Policy Change in the Shadow of the Paralympics: Disability Activism and Accessibility Reforms in Japan

Abstract

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games provided Japanese stakeholders opportunities to pressure policymakers to pass reforms, including measures to improve accessibility. However, the Games alone are not sufficient to explain the scope and consequences of recent accessibility reforms. We argue that researchers must also consider the impact of historical contingencies such as decades of activism for accessibility by affected parties (tōjisha), the 3/11 ‘triple disaster,’ and Japan’s 2014 ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to understand how disabled persons’ organizations were able to leverage the Games to influence reforms. Drawing on government records, news media reports, and documents from disability advocacy organizations, we unpack several causal mechanisms that linked activism for accessibility to policy changes and thereby contribute to studies of minority social movements and policymaking in Japan. Our analysis of accessibility initiatives documents a ‘legalistic turn’ in Japanese governance, characterized by more formal rules and enforcement mechanisms. While the implementation of those initiatives was hampered by scarcity of human and material resources as well as the spread of COVID-19, they nevertheless improved accessibility for many individuals and encouraged conversations about equity and inclusion that persist into the present.