The 47 prefectural associations are organized in ways which constrain political action, but which are able to access to government funding which benefits its members and related constituencies.

[8] As a result of the classification the Deaf as "quasi-incompetent persons" they were considered "incompetent due to diminished mental and/or physical capacity and wasteful habit".

This status was challenged by the JFD, and in 1979 they succeeded in having Article 11 of Japan's Civil Code amended; thereby allowing the Deaf to participate as fully functional persons in legal matters.

[10] In 2006, the National Police Agency began the process of revising Japanese laws about issuing driver licenses to persons with deafness.

[15] The Federation has member associations in all 47 Japanese prefectures, which are coordinated on the national level by the General Assembly and the Board of Directors of the JFD.

[19] Television broadcasts of the press conferences of Prime Minister Naoto Kan and the Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano included simultaneous JSL interpreters standing next to the Japanese flag on the same platform.