originally published in the year 2000 in the magazine “Disability Research vol. 28 issue 1”
OUTLINE: The central force in achieving full participation and equality for people with disabilities is the organizations and movements of people with disabilities themselves. The Japanese Federation of the Deaf (JFD) made great progress in the advancement of welfare for Deaf people in Japan through Deaf rights movements conducted after World War II. Based on these experiences, JFD hosted the 9th World Congress of the Deaf in 1991 in Tokyo. The “Asian Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, 1993-2002” presented another opportunity for advance. As a member of the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD), JFD has been playing an active role in helping to establish and develop Deaf organizations in Asia. One of our major projects is the “Leadership Training of Asian and Oceanian Deaf Persons”, commissioned by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The training program was initiated in 1995, and a total of 39 persons have been trained in the 5 courses completed so far.
Furthermore, JFD utilized the Japan Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications Postal Savings for International Voluntary Aid to help establish a common national Sign Language in Thailand through the publication of a Thai Sign Language book. JFD also established the “Asian Deaf Friendship Fund” to pool donations from JFD member associations and other organizations, to be used for such purposes as supporting the annual WFD Regional Secretariat in Asia/Pacific Representatives Meeting, which is hosted in turn by one of the member countries, providing scholarships to students in schools for the Deaf, providing funds to expand the facilities of the Deaf school in Nepal, etc. These projects are carried out with consideration of the specific requests and needs of the organizations receiving support, and with the objective of strengthening and developing the self-reliance of those bodies.
KEY WORDS: independent and autonomous organizations of disabled persons, Deaf society or Deaf community, WFD Regional Secretariat in Asia/Pacific (WFD RSA/P), Leadership Training of Asian and Oceanian Deaf Persons, Asian Deaf Friendship Fund, nationwide unification of the Sign Language.
