Abstract
This paper reports the results of interviews with eight service providers of “support for continuous employment” （type B） for persons with disabilities which were conducted to explore the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on their services. Support for continuous employment performs multiple manifest and latent functions including disability welfare, production activities and provision of a place to stay in the daytime for the users. First, production activities, especially those which were closely connected with people’s transfer, gathering, contact etc., were considerably affected by the “anti-interactionist feature” of the COVID-19, and such businesses abounded in the service type. Second, as a welfare service, the service providers were largely unaffected owing to the “remote support” provision, although they had difficulty introducing remote work. Third, harmful effects of stay-at-home on users were concerned, and the quick resumption of users’ commuting after a short period of time indicated the need of the users or users’ families for a place to stay outside the home. The last point indicates a situation where social isolation caused by stay-at-home was mitigated in the presence of the function of employment support, while also implying the significance of securing the “Second Place” apart from the place of residence at night.
