By Takeji Asano | Domestic emergency support team
As part of our emergency support against COVID-19, AAR Japan has provided disability-related organizations, welfare facilities, and hospitals in Japan with hygiene products such as masks and disinfectants, as well as technology tools necessary for teleworking and online conferencing.
Due to the impact of COVID-19, the number of workplaces where people with disabilities work decreased, as did the amount of work commissioned by clients. Also, due to the self-restraint of events, opportunities for users to sell their handmade products were lost. There were concerns about the impact on the mental and physical health of the users due to the decrease in work.
AAR decided to outsource the packing and shipping of hygiene products to be distributed to welfare facilities across the country to provide job opportunities for people with disabilities.
One of the welfare facilities, Tokyo Mutsumikai Faro, had no choice but to close its office for two months when the state of emergency was declared in April 2020. The number of requests for cleaning work in the community and sealing work from manufacturers decreased, and the wages paid to the users for production activities also decreased. To create jobs at the workshop, AAR commissioned the corporation to pack 6,000 boxes of masks (300,000 sheets) and send them to 499 welfare facilities.
When we visited the organization on December 1, we saw users carefully inspecting the boxes of masks for dirt and crumbs, and working together while talking to each other. Some users said, "I enjoy packing masks in cardboard boxes for shipment in the correct quantity," and "I will be responsible for making sure that the boxes of masks are not crushed.
Yasusaku Tokudo, the director of the facility, said, "There is a wide range of work, such as counting accurately and arranging things neatly. Since each user has his or her own strengths and weaknesses, we asked them to take charge of what they were good at, and everyone worked with a lively expression. Through the inspection work, they were able to learn the importance of handling products carefully, being aware of deadlines, etc...".
AAR will continue to distribute hygiene products to welfare facilities across Japan. With the uncertain future of the COVID-19, we hope that the outsourcing of such work will help create jobs at the welfare facilities. We will continue to provide support to people with disabilities.
We delivered hygiene products and other supplies to 2,073 facilities and hospitals (140,780 people)
Packing and shipping of hygiene products to 730 welfare facilities is scheduled to be commissioned to three welfare work centers.
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