Professor Shigeru Suemitu

Professor Shigeru Suemitu

As a psychiatrist, I have been involved in the field of intellectual disabilities, developmental disabilities, and severe intellectual and physical disabilities for 58 years. During this time, I have served an expert member of the Research and Study Subcommittee of the Japan Association for the Welfare of the Intellectual Retarded, a national organization of institutions for the mentally retarded; chairman and executive director of the Japan Association for the Welfare of Severely Disabled Children's Facility Directors Conference; and chairman of the National Daytime Activity Support Council for Severely Disabled Persons. Internationally, I served for eight years as the council member of IASSIDD, the International Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, and continues to maintain exchange with researchers in other countries in my current position as director (international affairs) of the Japanese Society on Developmental Disabilities. At the same time, as a professor at Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare, I have been engaged in research on welfare for the disabled for 33 years. I have been involved in research and studies on support for severely-retarded persons and children with medical care, QOL and de-institutionalization of people with disabilities, and inclusive community support systems.