Coco Farm & Winery, located in Ashikaga, Japan, doesn't just make what critics say are among the finest wines in Japan: It also employs more than 100 people with Autism and other developmentally disabilities, a marginalized community for whom job opportunities are scarce in Japan and worldwide.
Most of these winemakers live at the vineyard, and may even have attended classes at the on-site school for people with developmental disabilities.Work like winemaking, which requires attention to minute detail, is well suited to people with Autism, who tend to focus easily on details and patterns.
Hiromitsu Watanabe, 28, is one of the vineyard employees. When he first arrived
at Coco Farms & Winery several years ago, his counselors said he
could not communicate verbally. Today, he is thriving in his new
environment and talking non-stop. He told CNN his favorite job was
putting on the labels and that he makes red wine.
Despite the apparent contentment of Coco Farms & Winery's employees with disabilities, advocates might question some of the vineyard's practices. For instance, the employees are paid for their work, but their wages are returned to the school as payment for their food, education, and lodging. In addition to what is essentially unpaid labor from students, students' families are billed for tuition at the school.
On the other hand, it's unlikely that the winemakers with disabilities currently employed by Coco would find independent living opportunities abundant even if given the choice to receive and spend their wages like a non-disabled employee. Only in recent years has Japan strengthened its commitment to the education of children with special needs [PDF link] by passing legislation designed to create educational opportunities for citizens with disabilities. Supports for community living aside from an individual's family are still sparse, particularly in rural Japan. When compared to more traditional institutional settings, Coco Farms & Winery looks an awful lot like paradise.
What do you think? Is the winery doing a service to the Japanese disability community by educating and employing these individuals, or is Coco Farms & Winery turning a profit by exploiting its laborers and charging their families for tuition?
Related: Recently, an Iowa company that admitted to confiscating the majority of its disabled employees' wages for room, board, and "kind care" was shut down. The state of Iowa will pursue criminal charges against the individuals who allegedly housed employees in unsafe conditions and overcharged them for unsafe housing and negligent care.
