Korean Job Discussion Forums

[tfunk]

How much do wheelchairs cost in Korea?

Would a wheelchair be of benefit to a person that drags themself along the ground in Korea? I'm talking about quality of life...is there a significant difference between being a homeless person in a wheelchair and a homeless person who drags themself around? Is this a simplification of the issue?

Would they accept a wheelchair?

What is the best way to give a wheelchair to a person? (via charity etc.)

[phoneboothface]

My first thought was that they wouldn't look so 불쌍해 so people might give them less money.

휠체어s on gmarket seem to run from like 50k to 200k or so.

But this is a great idea and I hope someone replies with some real help.

[tfunk]

[djsmnc]

Skateboards would be so much more cool. Then they can still drag themselves albeit less painfully. They could stash it when asking for money too.

[ED209]

Who are people more likely to give money to? A man dragging himself pitifully on the ground or a man in a wheelchair.

Next time follow the guy around at the end of the day as he crawls into his Mercedes and drives of home.

[Bibbitybop]

[chemicalblur]

If you look carefully, you will notice that many of the crawling beggars are not crippled at all, with both legs intact and functioning properly. I don't know where they get the rubber leg casings, but I got to get myself some.

[seoulsucker]

Newsflash: at least 80% of those guys can walk perfectly fine.

A friend here told me once that most of them are either mentally ill, or have screwed up so badly with local gangs that they were forced to pay off their debt in the most humiliating way possible.

[alphakennyone]

Every Korean (and a lot on this board) says that the homeless/handicapped in Korea are fake. Since I haven't seen any proof of that, I chalk it up as face saving (there are no homeless/crippled/PTSD Vietnam war vets in Korea) or as an excuse for coldness.

[ChopChaeJoe]

Sounds like a snarky, Dlckhead kind of post to me. If you want to help, then do so, if not then don't. You sound like a creep.



(And any check of my posts will show I never flame, so my apologies if I'm wrong.)

[tfunk]

[tfunk]

[Robot_Teacher]

I'd venture they don't want nor need our help as if they did want wheelchairs, they'd have them. In fact, I'm seeing old people in electric wheelchairs getting around town to visit their friends while a few really poor elderly and disabled have regular wheelchairs. These wheelchairs are no different than in America. They're a common sight outside in my hood now the weather is nice and warm.

While I feel for the severely downtrodden, the beggars you see dragging themselves on the ground wearing rubber are intentionally looking pitiful for money. It's a put on and I'd venture to say that the ones who do need a wheelchair already have one, but don't use it when working.

I'm sure most Koreans know this, but don't openly talk about these sorts of things like Westerners do though some Koreans are warm hearted people who help fellow Koreans in need much like how it works in Western touristy places. The streets of Europe can really grip and rip your heart and I gave away a lot of money over the years even though I'm not rich.

The Korean rubber legged beggars are different in that is their life work and career, but they are the downtrodden unemployable for whatever reasons be. If rubber legged begging weren't a way of working, a few Koreans would had already taken wheelchairs to the markets and sat these people in them. I do not believe a foreigner doing this would be very well received in a way you had hope it would be. Some rubber leggers even push a larger board through markets selling small simple things rather than simply begging with a speaker playing a sad tune.

[Khenan]

Not that I'm saying the rubber-leg guys have it easy, but have you ever considered how completely awful this country is for someone in a wheelchair? Forget about the sidewalks being uneven for a moment - every single store, and most buildings, have at least one step at the entry way. Forget about using the subway or bus system, for the most part.

[djsmnc]