Original Article
The Prevalence and Characteristics of Married Lives of Japanese People with Intellectual Disabilities (MJPwID): According to the Survey for Employment and Livelihood Support Centers for Persons with Disabilities (ELSCPD “Syogaisya syugyou/seikatsushien center”)
Emiko Tanaka
Abstract
This study describes the prevalence and characteristics of marriage among Japanese people with intellectual disabilities. While the number of couples and parents with intellectual disabilities has been relatively small, their circumstances are changing, due to the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
This article uses a survey that was distributed to 323 Employment and Livelihood Support Centers for Persons with Disabilities (ELSCPD). One hundred and four (32.2%) questionnaires were returned.
The survey found regional differences and a trend of couples living in the countryside. Typical couples had light to medium impairments, were middle-aged, lived in a rented house, and raised one child using few childrearing services. They earned relatively high wages compared to the average salary of disabled people, although the salary of non-disabled people in the same generation was extremely high. Their main support system came from social welfare workers, some of who thought that marriage and raising children were improbable tasks for these disabled.
It is necessary to develop a better childrearing support system and securing a minimum wage for people with intellectual disabilities. This can be accomplished with more comprehensive and concrete investigations into good practices.
Keywords: intellectual disabilities, marriage, parents and children, Japan
Japanese Journal of Social Welfare, 57(5), 1-10 2017