By Kiyoshi Takenaka
TOKYO, July 21 (Reuters) - Two wheelchair-bound candidateswon seats in Japan's upper house vote on Sunday, mediaprojections showed, a sign of changing attitudes towardsdisabled people in a country where they have long beenencouraged to stay in the shadow.
Yasuhiko Funago, a vice president of a company that provideselderly and patient care, has Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis(ALS), a progressive neurological disease in which patientsgradually lose control of most of their muscles.
Although a lower house lawmaker in the past was diagnosedwith ALS after winning a seat, no one had previously begun acareer in parliament after being diagnosed with the disease,according to the Japan ALS Association.
The other candidate is Eiko Kimura, who has cerebral palsy.Both of them were running from a small opposition group, theReiwa Shinsengumi.
"We will of course have specialists accompany them and lookafter them," Taro Yamamoto, head of the Reiwa Shinsengumi, tolda commercial broadcaster after polls closed on Sunday evening.
"But primary responsibility to take care them falls onparliament, which will be called on to provide them withreasonable accommodation."
Besides Funago and Kimura, Rie Saito, who lost her hearingas an infant, was running from the largest oppositionConstitutional Democratic Party of Japan.
Media had not yet called her race, but if Saito wins, shewill be the first deaf member of parliament in post-World WarTwo Japan.
Experts in disability issues said before Sunday's electionthat these rare candidacies were welcome developments but alsowere intended to signal greater change is needed, even as Japanprepares to host the Paralympic Games next year.
During the election campaign, Funago and Kimura said theywould seek education reforms as lawmakers to help create asociety where people with disabilities can lead better lives.
People with physical or intellectual disability as well aswith mental disorder, account for about 8% of the Japanesepopulation.(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka, editing by Louise Heavens)