The Cabinet endorsed bills Friday to amend 27 laws that ban blind and deaf people from becoming doctors, nurses, pharmacists or assuming many other professional positions, government officials said.
The government plans to submit the bills to the Diet with the intention of passing them before the end of the ongoing 150-day regular session on June 29, they said.
Current laws stipulate that the government does not grant professional licenses to people who are blind, deaf or dumb.
The bills aim to revise the wording of the laws to make the clauses broader, restricting the licenses for "people who will have difficulty carrying out practices due to a physical or mental disorder." The idea is to allow room for applicants to receive the licenses on a case by case basis.
The government has been working on the amendments since 1999.
However, some groups supporting people with disabilities are critical of the proposed amendments.
The groups feel the amendments might remain nominal legal revisions while ministerial ordinances that spell out details to enforce the laws are expected to continue stating that blindness, deafness or dumbness remain preconditions for withholding licenses, the officials said.