Photo/Illutration The father of Ayuka Ide along with his supporters enter the Osaka High Court on Jan. 20. (Issei Yamamoto)

OSAKA—The Osaka High Court on Jan. 20 awarded the same compensation amount as a non-hearing-impaired worker to the parents of a girl with a hearing disorder killed in a traffic accident. 

Ayuka Ide, 11, a student at a hearing support school, was struck and killed by a piece of heavy machinery in Osaka’s Ikuno Ward in 2018.

The amount of her “lost earnings,” which she could have earned in the future, had been disputed.

The high court changed the ruling of the Osaka District Court, which reduced the compensation amount awarded to the parents of Ayuka to 85 percent of the average lifetime pay because her salary would likely have been smaller because of her disability.

Regarding the calculation of lost earnings, the bereaved family argued that the annual average wage of all workers should be used as the basis.

The driver's defense lawyers argued that 60 percent was appropriate because “a disability makes it difficult to go on to higher education or to work.”

In February 2023, the district court ruled that Ayuka had sufficient motivation to learn and support from her surroundings, and that she had “various possibilities for employment” in light of social changes such as the widespread use of voice applications to compensate for her hearing loss and the advancement of technology.

However, the court stated, “It is undeniable that a hearing impairment can limit one's ability to work,” and deducted 15 percent from the average.

The family appealed the decision to the high court.

During the appeal hearing, the bereaved family pointed out that the idea that society, not the individual, is the cause of “limitations” has spread, and that laws have been enacted requiring companies and governments to provide “reasonable accommodation” to eliminate such barriers.

The family therefore called for a change in thinking, which takes it for granted that a person's future possibilities are lessened because of a disability.

The family also submitted statements from 14 hearing-impaired people who work in various fields using text interpretation and apps as evidence.

The family criticized the lower court’s decision that a “hearing impairment can limit the ability to work,” saying, “There is an assumption that work is done through speech communication.”

Haruna Kubo, a lawyer representing the family who has a severe hearing loss, said during the closing argument, “If reasonable accommodation had been provided, Ayuka could have worked on an equal footing with people who can hear. There is no rationale for reducing the amount below the average, and this is nothing but discrimination by the court.”

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