Towards improvement of information accessibility in a care-centered society

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify issues arising in information infrastructure development so that the Japanese public, regardless of whether they have a disability or not, can easily obtain and use information necessary for everyone in a care-centered society, while mutually respecting their personalities and individuality. Furthermore, we wanted to generate proposals that work towards improving information accessibility. We conducted a symposium entitled “Building bridges in support of communication: The search for methods in support of overcoming various communication barriers” during the course of the Health and Labor Sciences Research Grant-funded Comprehensive Research Project on Disabled Persons Policy (Physical and Intellectual Disabilities Sector). This symposium dealt with research related to effective support methods for information assurance among persons with communication difficulties (research representative: Tomoko Tachibana), and through speeches and discussion, issues related to the improvement of regional information accessibility were identified. These issues could be organized into the following themes: the “need for a revolution in awareness toward ‘the main concerned parties’ and for greater public awareness, including among health care workers and providers of health and welfare nursing services, of the various disability support services available to regional residents”; the “need for surveys and information on the views of the concerned parties”; “the promotion of sharing of pioneering approaches among local government authorities through construction of information sites”; and “the promotion of the construction of an integrated support system based on reasonable, efficient, and effective ‘equipment’, ‘people’, and ‘software’.”
In recent years, we have assessed the promotion of disability health and welfare policy, and conducted research aimed at re-evaluating these policies from the perspective of trauma prognosis. Considering the policy trends in recent years involving regional health care, medical treatment, welfare, and nursing for disabled persons, we can infer that promoting evidence-based disability health and welfare policy is essential for improving information accessibility in regional care-centered societies. Thus, the “enrichment of information content necessary for the creation of subjective health promotion” should be added to the “barrier-free use of information” detailed in the Disabled Persons Basic Law. To achieve this goal, this article proposes the construction of a disability registry database, from the perspective of “clinical efficacy information,” which is the patient information related to the diagnosis, treatment process, treatment efficacy, etc. of patients examined and/or treated at all medical institutions in Japan.