July 3, 2008, PM Visit to Isetan Soleil
Training Report - Vocational Rehabilitation Course 2008
Disability is Power !
In the afternoon, the participants visited Isetan Soleil, Co., Ltd., a special subsidiary of Isetan Co., Ltd. which runs one of the most famous department stores in Japan, Isetan. On its way, the participants passed by Isetan department store in Shinjuku and observed from outside how big and popular it is.
As the participants arrived at the company, President of Isetan Soleil, came out to the entrance to welcome them with his warm smile. Firstly, the participants watched a video of a program broadcasted by a big TV company which took up the employment promotion of persons with disabilities at Isetan Soleil. Then they visited the workplace where employees with intellectual and mental disabilities are working.
As entering the workplace, the participants could feel that all employees were very much concentrating on their own tasks. Everyone was preceding his/her duties steadily and diligently. At Isetan Soleil, 26 employees with disabilities are working together with three employees without disabilities who also act as job coaches. There are more than 80 kinds of works done at Isetan Soleil, he explained. They are supplementary tasks which used to be done by sales staff at a shop in Isetan Department Store such as folding wrapping papers, making gift bags, sorting credit card sales slips etc.
The participants could also observe various devices created by job coaches and used by employees with disabilities to produce the same products. For example, a paper mould which has a cut in a shape of a gift sticker indicates where the sticker should be pasted and thus anyone can paste a sticker on a gift bag easily and accurately. The participants tried some tasks which looked easy, but they felt to do it accurately and repeatedly was not as easy as it looked.
After the observation of workplace, President of Isetan Soleil gave lecture about the company and their efforts in employing persons with disabilities. The participants could learn that if the environment is appropriately arranged and the appropriate jobs are provided, persons with intellectual or mental disabilities can also work. Some participants commented that in their counties employment of persons with intellectual disabilities are not considered and they were surprised to see today that persons with intellectual disabilities could be a strong workforce.
From today's two visits to Swan Bakery and Isetan Soleil, the participants could learn a lot from how those private companies have strived for employing persons with disabilities not as charity or welfare but as business.
