NO BORDERS — Toward a workplace where everyone can shine! Disability Inclusion Month was held for the second consecutive year to deepen understanding of disabilities.

USJ LLC (USJ) held Disability Inclusion Month from September 1 to 30 as part of our internal awareness activities. This initiative aims to foster a deeper awareness and understanding of disabilities, thereby creating a more inclusive company. We promoted three major programs within the company during this period.

• • USJ held Disability Inclusion Month from September 1 to 30.
• • We implemented three programs within the company to deepen awareness and understanding of disabilities.
  1. Ways to be mindful of inclusion
      Raising awareness of disabilities through in-house decorations and direct sales corners at welfare workshops
  2. Creating opportunities to learn about the employment system for people with disabilities
      Disseminated information related to the employment of people with disabilities through email newsletters and internal social media
      Held talk sessions with guest speakers on the employment of people with disabilities
  3. Communication with Guests — activities to deepen understanding 
      Video streamed sign language classes and workshops conducted by invited external instructors
• • Thoughts from the organizer on Disability Inclusion Month's second year

At USJ LLC, we are promoting the NO BORDERS project, an initiative aimed at creating inclusive workplace environments that allow employees to activate their true potential and embrace their individuality at work. Through NO BORDERS, we are working across departments to promote inclusion, with the aim of creating workplaces where each person can contribute as a team member, excel in their own way, and turn individual differences into strengths.
This year, as one of our initiatives, we held "Disability Inclusion Month: Everyone Has Infinite Potential."
Note: Hereafter, "Disability Inclusion Month" will be abbreviated as "DIM."

The first program aimed to cultivate awareness of inclusion and take steps to learn about things we rarely see or seldom have opportunities to know about.

During the event period, we decorated the office with posters and flags featuring the DIM logo to raise awareness of DIM itself, and to create opportunities to learn about employment settings for people with disabilities at USJ.

Additionally, the crew cafes, used for meals and breaks, feature a direct sales corner offering sweets made by individuals from welfare workshops. Last year, sales were limited to one crew cafe location, but this year we expanded to two locations to make it accessible to more employees. This year, along with cookies and madeleines, we also sold drip bag coffee for the first time. These items were popular with employees who said things like, "It was delicious!" and "The item I wanted was sold out, so I want it for sure next time!" 

The next program involved informing the crew about USJ's employment practices for people with disabilities.

We distributed information related to disability employment on a weekly basis, including employment status, new hires, and reasonable accommodations, to all employees working at USJ via email newsletters and internal social media.
The email newsletter was distributed in four installments, covering topics such as "What is Hiring Decision Review Practice?" and "How to Learn About Disabilities," to help deepen understanding of subjects that most people rarely consider in their daily life.  
Furthermore, to promote understanding of hiring individuals with disabilities and to expand opportunities for such employment across all departments, we hosted a guest speaker for a talk session-style lecture.

Speakers included a person from a company that launched Japan's first store where sign language is the common language, and members of the USJ Human Resources Department's Disability Support Team, who shared their thoughts on hiring people with disabilities.

Finally, as a program to deepen understanding of disabilities, we conducted multiple activities, including workshops led by external instructors.

One such activity was sign-language lesson videos, which were streamed internally. We selected sign language that crew members could use immediately within the Park, changed the content weekly, displayed content on signage in crew cafes, and distributed it via our internal social media. We recognize that sign language is a language just like English, Chinese, or any other, and by increasing the number of crew members who can sign, we aim to create an inclusive environment where our hearing-impaired coworkers and Guests alike can feel comfortable and enjoy themselves.

In addition to sign language classes, we held workshops with external instructors. We conducted training sessions where participants experienced various forms of inclusion firsthand, such as playing the role of someone who cannot hear, someone with impaired vision, or someone who cannot speak. Recognizing their differences gave participants the opportunity to reflect on themselves and reconsider ways of communicating that show more respect for others' perspectives.

We spoke with Nobuko Uriu of the Disability Support Team in the Human Resources Department, who planned and managed the month's activities, about her thoughts on the DIM initiative in its second year.

I reviewed the general flow for the second year of DIM and laid out a roadmap for its implementation. For each event, I was primarily responsible for planning and executing talk sessions featuring invited external speakers.

While more companies are hiring people with disabilities as part of their corporate policies, such as compliance, social contribution activities, and inclusion, there is a tendency to impose vague limitations based on preconceived notions of what people with disabilities may be like.
We wanted to move past the idea that it is difficult to serve customers if you have a disability. Instead, we invited representatives from companies that are proactively hiring people with disabilities in customer-facing roles. We wanted more people to learn about the successes of these "Challenge Partners" with disabilities, and how their employment is having a positive impact not only on customers, but also on their families and the local community. 

We wanted employees to participate in and experience this month's activities to help them learn more about disabilities. So, we held sign language classes using digital signage at crew cafes, which we were unable to do last year. Also, we expanded sales locations at welfare workshops, enabling us to accommodate visits to nine workshops this year, compared to four last year.

To get ready for new hires, it is essential for the receiving side to learn about and better understand disabilities. So, we decided to create opportunities with DIM events to engage with and learn about disabilities in various ways over the course of the month.

People with disabilities work alongside us in a wide range of roles, from delivering excitement to Guests at the Park to performing tasks such as cleaning the offices.
At Universal Studios Japan, we value not only ensuring our Guests have a great time but also taking pride in our work. To create an environment where everyone can enjoy working and express their individuality, it is very important that we hold events such as DIM and allow many crew members to get to know a variety of people.

Through CSR activities carried out inside and outside the Park under the theme "LOVE HAS NO LIMIT," USJ LLC aims to continue creating an inclusive workplace where people with rich, diverse backgrounds and ways of thinking can work together with mutual acceptance and respect, and thereby create a Park where everyone can enjoy themselves with peace of mind.

See here for details on USJ's employment of people with disabilities.
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