Photo/Illutration People in wheelchairs protest in front of the Nagoya city hall on June 13 over discriminatory remarks made during a city-hosted public forum. (Tomomi Terasawa)

NAGOYA--City officials apologized on June 14 for failing to stop discriminatory remarks against a wheelchair-user who asked at a public forum for an elevator to be installed in Nagoya Castle.  

Officials in charge of human rights policies, including the head of the sports and citizens bureau, said the hurtful remarks also violate the Basic Law for Persons with Disabilities, which prohibits discrimination.

“Overall, these remarks lacked consideration for human rights and were discriminatory,” they said at the city assembly's general affairs and environment committee meeting.

The city held the forum on June 3 to discuss restoration work on Nagoya Castle's tower to return it to its original wooden design, with the theme of ensuring barrier-free access. It aims to conduct a “faithful restoration based on historical facts.” 

Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura and city officials attended the forum.

A man in a wheelchair called for the installation of an elevator that would go to the top floor of the five-story tower.

That prompted two men opposing the elevator installation to make discriminatory remarks toward physically disabled people and also utter comments such as “endure it,” “how audacious” and “don’t confuse equality with selfishness.”

The city apologized for the failure of Kawamura and other officials at the forum to stop or warn the audience against making discriminatory and abusive comments.

The officials said that the discriminatory behavior runs counter to Aichi prefecture’s ordinance for creation of a society respecting human rights and was “clearly inappropriate.”

They plan to examine why officials in attendance were unable to halt the discriminatory remarks and to compile measures to prevent a recurrence, including training for staff.

The man in the wheelchair who bore the brunt of the abusive remarks during the forum told The Asahi Shimbun, “I felt despair.”

“I felt completely rejected by everyone at the venue, including the mayor and city officials who did not stop the comments,” he said.

Regarding the city’s consideration of measures to prevent a repeat, he pointed out the need for appointing an outside panel such as a third-party committee to examine the case.

“I want a thorough investigation into why this occurred,” he said.

(This article was written by Tomomi Terasawa, Kei Kobayashi and Risako Miyake.)

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