Today the participants visited one of the Members’ Office Buildings of the House of Representative to receive a lecture on the importance of political participation of persons with disabilities.
The lecturer, Mr. Eita Yashiro, is the first person with disabilities elected as a national diet member of Japan in 1977. “Send a Wheelchair to the Diet!” was his campaign slogan. He made the Diet building accessible.
In 1999 he was appointed to the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications.
Lecture material : Personal History of Mr. Eita YASHIRO (pdf)
Lecture material : The First Speech at the Diet (pdf)
Mr. Yashiro introduced the ideal of normalization and also talked about the necessity of political participation of persons with disabilities in the local government as well as at a national level. Three participants got inspired to become a politician by Mr. Yashiro. We finished by singing “You Are My Sunshine” all together.
In the afternoon they visited the Diet Building and observed how it became accessible.
