Regarding the employment difficulties of patients with intractable diseases, the challenge is to provide the necessary employment supports to patients with intractable diseases who have employment difficulties, including those who are not covered by the disability certificate.

In this study, by conducting a survey of patients with intractable diseases, a survey of business establishments, and a survey of support organizations, we clarified the employment difficulties were caused by fragility of symptoms and/or risk of progression of intractable diseases, which are not covered by disability certification. The issues and needs for professional support at work and in the community were clarified in order for each person to find a job where he/she can play an active role with understanding and accommodation of the workplace while balancing treatment.

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The purpose of this research was to clarify what kind of support is needed for employers who hire employees with developmental disabilities by looking at cases where employers identified employees as having developmental disabilities after they were hired and worked to resolve workplace accommodation issues so that the employees could continue to work.

The research results showed that the main problems in occupational life were those related to work performance and communication caused by the characteristics of the disability, and that the companies that solved the problems and were able to continue employing the employees were those that " reviewed work instruction methods" , " created tasks that the employee could perform" , and " explained the rules of the workplace and any annoyances the employee felt and communicated desired responses" . In addition, many companies tended to deal with the problems by limiting the range of duties, rather than making major changes to the job description. In the process of diagnosis and disclosure of developmental disabilities, the presence of supervisors, human resources staff, occupational physicians, and other occupational health staff with knowledge of developmental disabilities and good understanding had a positive impact on diagnosis and disclosure.

The first step in support is to understand employees whose developmental disabilities are identified after they are hired and whose problems become apparent as a result of the interaction between their overlooked characteristics and the environment. It is expected that the discussion of desirable support and consideration will be deepened in conjunction with the development of human resources (supervisors and co-workers) who can provide support and consideration by staying close to these employees, being patient, not giving up, taking time, being careful, and building relationships of trust.

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This study conducted a questionnaire research and interviews targeting employment support organizations, with the aim of contributing to the study of future videoconference-based employment support at employment support organizations and effective implementation methods.

As a result, videoconference-based employment support was used in the surveyed establishments primary for retention support, etc. While videoconference-based employment support has several advantages, such as reduced burden of travel, ease of scheduling, and reduced psychological burden on the user, it also presents challenges with equipment, communication issues such as difficulty understanding nonverbal cues and speech timing, and difficulties in conducting assessments such as work tests and behavioral observations.

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In the research division of the National Institute of Vocational Rehabilitation, a new work sample of the "Makuhari Work Sample (MWS)" ("MWS New Work Sample") was developed in FY2019 (National Institute of Vocational Rehabilitation, 2019) and has been commercially available since the end of FY2020.

Although the new MWS work samples are particularly effective in assisting high-performing individuals with assessment, employment, and return-to-work, it was noted that there is a need to reduce the burden on caregivers associated with the use of the new MWS work samples.

Therefore, as a measure to reduce the burden on supporters, this research conducted research activities with the aim of developing a "utilization model" that gives an image of MWS new tasks and created the " A handbook for effective usage of New Work Sample for Makuhari Work Sample (MWS)".

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The purpose of this research was, first, to grasp the actual status of the work environment and working conditions of workers with disabilities employed in business establishments, the reasonable accommodations they need, and the support agencies they use, etc., and, second, to clarify matters that can be used as a reference when employment support agencies advise business establishments considering job setting, job creation/restructuring, etc., and when business establishments themselves carry out job setting, job creation/restructuring.

The results of the survey of employees with disabilities suggest that the accommodations they need vary depending on the characteristics of their disabilities, and that "age," "status of implementation of reasonable accommodation," "contact for consultation about work," and "whether or not they have concerns about the future" affect whether they "want to continue their current job.

Based on the results of a questionnaire among business establishments employing persons with disabilities, the specific duties of people with disabilities were categorized and organized into 251 "tasks, etc." Thus, many of the tasks were office-related, such as "data entry," "organizing and managing documents," and "clerical work", etc. In addition, "cleaning" was particularly common, as was "manufacturing/processing/assembly for non-clerical work. On the other hand, there were also a certain number of tasks that require specialized knowledge and skills, such as "education," "testing, inspection, experimentation, and analysis," and "research".

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The purpose of this research was to gain an understanding of the current state of work in which persons with disabilities are employed, and how the job fields of persons with disabilities are changing with the advancement of AI and other technologies, and to look ahead to future changes in the job fields of persons with disabilities in light of AI and other technological advances.

The company questionnaire (valid responses: 3,693 from general companies and 235 from special subsidiary company "special subsidiary"（In case that an employer establishes a subsidiary company which gives special consideration for employing persons with disabilities in order to promote and stabilize their employment, and fulfills certain requirements, the workers employed at the subsidiary can be deemed to be employed by the parent company for calculating the employment rate.）) assessed the status of inclusion of persons with disabilities in digital-related work, the reasons for such inclusion and efforts, and the impact on the employment of persons with disabilities. Regarding the impact of digitization on employment of persons with disabilities to date, general companies felt no particular impact or a slightly positive impact, while about half of the special subsidiaries felt a positive impact.

In the company interview survey (16 target companies), the content of digital-related work in which persons with disabilities are engaged, the motivation for engaging in such work, the impact of digitization on the employment of persons with disabilities, the methods of recruiting persons with disabilities and acquiring their skills, the efforts related to work assignment and human support, and the problems and future prospects were identified. In addition, we classified digital-related work into four patterns and organized the content of the interviews.

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