Five years has passed since “Circulation/Service” was, as a new subject (elective subject) related to special education, established for schools for mentally disabled students (today's special support schools) in the existing courses of study for schools for the blind, schools for the deaf-mute, and upper secondary departments of special support schools for disabled students.
From the upper secondary department of special support schools which attribute importance to vocational education for lightly mentally disabled students and special support schools which have vocational courses and subjects for such students, I chose and visited thirty-three schools which have subject “Circulation/Service”, and collected materials on circumstances of vocational education and conducted interview research.
As the result, It turned out that although the circumstances of special subjects are various, there are some types of schools such as (1) schools which adds some fields of “Circulation/ Service” to old subjects such as “Home Economics”, “Agriculture”, or “Technology” and (2) schools which attribute importance to one or plural fields of the new subject “Circulation/Service”.
I considered this result from a perspective of career development based on the character of disabilities.

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The purpose of this study was finding the main factors to support for continuing job placements for persons with intellectual disabilities.There were 127 people who were evaluated for the 29 work attitudes and skills by the Tokyo Metropolitan Rehabilitation Center for the Physically and Mentally Disabled.The evaluation was performed using the situational assessment approach with a 3 points support scale system through behavior observation. Agenda, ages, IQ and special education background analyzed the data.The subjects of 127 were divided two groups, which were job retention and not job retention.The study showed the differences in agenda, ages, and special education background.Also, the study showed differences in work attitudes and skills between two groups in the daily living skills, conceptual skills, self-direction, and directions for society participation.Persons with intellectual disabilities emphasized the need for on going services from supported employment offices, which is presently employed with individual needs.

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Recently, in Japan, there has been an increase in the number of people with disabilities that are either seeking a job or working in one.Furthermore, there has been an increase in the percentage of people with disabilities among the workers of enterprises that have more than 56 employees.This has been a continuing trend, especially, in the northern region of Okinawa Prefecture.To investigate this phenomenon, the author has conducted research in Okinawa and has found three characteristics unique to the region. 1) Human relations are highly valued in Okinawa, so, despite the decline in regional industry, some companies have been employing people who cannot get a job easily. 2) Taken regular jobs apart into simpler jobs for people with disabilities, and there is also a system to promote job skills. 3) Members of Okinawa Association of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises share ways to employ people with disabilities, leading to an increase in the number of companies that employ disabled people.It is suggested that the warm human relations characteristic of Okinawa are an important element in extending employment to people with disabilities.And, it is put forward that people with disabilities should receive reasonable accommodation for their employment.

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Herein, we describe Uemura ranch in Nara Prefecture, which was established as part of research on support measures for intellectually disabled persons in the field of agriculture.The objective of the present study was to identify new methods for supporting the employment of intellectually disabled persons for the following reasons: 1) few studies have been conducted in the field of agriculture; 2) Uemura ranch is actively pursuing profit-making business, which is important for supporting the employment of disabled persons; and 3) Uemura ranch has employed intellectually disabled persons for 22 years.
Uemura ranch acts as both a welfare and business entity.Its three main features are: 1) effective employee posting and excellent support system; 2) excellent employee benefits; and 3) active business expansion while valuing traditions.The ranch effectively utilizes national and municipal public subsidies.In the future, the ranch will face challenges related to supporting older employees.

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