ABSTRACT

This paper begins by providing a history of Japanese law pertaining to special education and its change towards a more inclusive education with the ratification of United Nations Conventions of the Rights of People with Disabilities. With the changes in laws, more children with constant medical care needs in Japan have the opportunity to attend mainstream schools. The recent court case, Kosuge v. Kanagawa prefecture and Kawasaki city, ruled against a child with medical care needs to attend mainstream school and made the judgment that a special needs school (tokubetsushien gakkō) is the appropriate placement for the child based on the child’s disability type and degree of disability rather than needs and regardless of the wishes of the child’s parents. This paper explores the case judgement and discusses where Japanese special education laws fall short similar to that of the US system based on Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. We suggest the need to keep inclusion as the basic human rights aligned with the Article 24 of the UNCRPD rather than focusing on the continuum of education principle in IDEA, and operationalise the law into practice to make integration of children with disabilities, including children with constant medical care needs, into mainstream education schools.

摘要

本文首先介绍了日本有关特殊教育的法律的历史，以及随着联合国残疾人权利公约的批准，日本法律向更具包容性的教育的转变。随着法律的变化，更多在日本需要持续医疗护理的儿童有机会就读主流学校。最近的法院案件“小菅诉神奈川县和川崎市”判决有医疗需要的儿童不得进入主流学校，并做出特殊需要学校（特殊需要学校）的判决) 是根据儿童的残疾类型和残疾程度而不是需要以及无论儿童父母的意愿而对儿童进行的适当安置。本文探讨了案例判决，并讨论了日本特殊教育法与基于残疾人教育法的美国制度相似的不足之处。我们建议需要将包容性作为基本人权，与《联合国残疾人权利公约》第 24 条保持一致，而不是关注 IDEA 中的教育连续性原则，并将法律付诸实践，使残疾儿童，包括患有持续性残疾的儿童融入社会。医疗保健需求，进入主流教育学校。