Understanding Disability
To help create a society where everyone can thrive, the Company is advancing services that support persons with disabilities and initiatives that foster inclusive environments enabling their participation in society.
Supporting the daily lives and social participation
Providing an environment where diverse people can work together
Working with the Human Augmentation Engineering Division of the University of Tokyo's Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, the Company promotes “short time work,” allowing individuals who have faced constraints such as disabilities, childcare, nursing care or medical treatment and have therefore struggled to secure employment to work fewer than 20 hours per week. By enhancing working environments, the Company seeks to realize an inclusive approach to “working together,” and is encouraging not only its own employment practices but also other companies to adopt this workstyle as one of the available employment options. Enabling individuals to work in ways that draw on their unique attributes and experiences helps create employment opportunities for more diverse people and supports more effective utilization of human resources within companies and local communities.
“Zero Project Award 2025”
“Short time work” has received the “Zero Project Award” established by the Austrian non-profit Essl Foundation with the aim of realizing a world without barriers.
The “Zero Project Award 2025” was based on the theme of “Employment and ICT” and received 522 applications from 90 countries, of which 77, including “short time work,” received the award.
Supporting the daily lives and social participation
of children with various difficulties
The Company provides “Assist Guide,” an app that visually shows what needs to be done in daily life and how to do it. For example, for children with intellectual or developmental disabilities, visually showing tasks and how to complete them helps them understand what lies ahead and supports them in doing things they were unable to do alone.
“Assist Guide” allows guardians and supporters and supporters to quickly create task lists and guidance, easing their workload and making more personalized support possible. “Assist Guide” is compatible with all telecommunications carriers with all telecommunications carriers in Japan and can be used free of charge simply by downloading the app.
Working toward a society
where people can communicate freely with each other
Enabling more people to benefit from our services
The Company provides the Heart Friend discount, which lowers basic charges and other fees, to help customers with disabilities use SoftBank mobile phones widely as a way to enhance communication and support social participation.
Mirairo ID is now available as an alternative to a physical disability certificate
While a disability certificate is required to apply for the Heart Friend discount, applicants may present Mirairo ID, the smartphone based disability certificate application provided by Mirairo Corporation, instead.
Sign language counter and remote sign language support
At SoftBank Shibuya, the Company has provided a sign language counter staffed by trained sign language personnel since 2010 to help customers with hearing disabilities comfortably receive support and complete mobile phone related procedures such as choosing devices and learning how to operate them. Customers who do not use sign language can also receive support through written communication.
In addition, the Company offers a remote sign language support service in which SoftBank crew members provide sign language assistance through video connections between stores nationwide and the sign language counter.
Telephone relay service
The Company has introduced the telephone relay service to help secure and enhance access to communications services and communication methods for persons with disabilities.* This service allows persons with hearing or speech difficulties to communicate with the other party by placing calls through sign language interpreting operators who translate between sign language or text and voice. The service is available twenty four hours a day, three hundred sixty five days a year, supports two way use, and enables contact with emergency reporting agencies.
The telephone relay service system obliges all telecommunications carriers to bear an appropriate share of the costs required to provide the service. Customers who use the Company's mobile phone services, IP phone services, or direct connection telephone services are asked to bear the telephone relay service fee.
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Institutionalized as public infrastructure
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Koe-Tora, a support application for individuals with hearing disabilities
To help people with disabilities enjoy richer communication and daily lives, the Company supports Koe-Tora, a hearing disability support application offered by FEAT Corporation.
Koe-Tora plays as audio the text entered by users with hearing disabilities and converts spoken input from hearing individuals into text, helping facilitate smooth communication through smartphones and similar devices.
Supporting athletes
who never stop striving for their dreams
The 25th Summer Deaflympics Tokyo 2025 Sponsorship
The Deaflympics is an international sports event for athletes who are deaf or hard of hearing. The term “Deaflympics” combines “Deaf,” referring to those who are unable to hear, with “Olympics.”
The Company sponsored the 25th Summer Deaflympics Tokyo 2025, held in November 2025, as a Total Support Member.
To ensure the smooth operation of the event, the Company provided communication devices free of charge to athletes and officials, and established a help desk to support device use.
TOKYO 2025 DEAFLYMPICS - Games Information - (Deaflympics Preparation and Operation Office)
Special Olympics sponsor
Special Olympics is a global sports organization that offers a variety of year-round training opportunities and competitions for people with intellectual disabilities. It is a nonprofit organization supported by volunteers and charitable contributions.
The Company has continuously supported the activities of Special Olympics Nippon, a public interest incorporated foundation, since 2005.
The Company provides mobile devices free of charge to those involved in Special Olympics Nippon so they can be used as communication tools for delegations and staff at events, and by accompanying physicians for emergency contact in cases of sudden illness or injury of athletes.