ABSTRACT
MARK BOOKMAN
Creating Disability Publics in Postwar Japan (1937-57)
In this article, I investigate how blind elites, wounded veterans, U.S. policymakers, and other diverse stakeholders helped define the concept of disability in Japan during the postwar period by drafting and implementing the 1949 Law for the Welfare of Physically Disabled Persons. I trace how such stakeholders’ personal and professional commitments came to be reflected in state-sponsored welfare projects to explain why individuals with specific physical and cognitive impairments were denied access to social services and financial support in the 1950s. I also frame the rise of disability publics that facilitated the formation of Japan’s modern disability movement.
Volume 49, Number 2 (Summer 2023)
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