Korean Job Discussion Forums

[uberscheisse]

or maybe i'll just use the blunt, hot-button word - retarded people - or really, anyone with a visible physical/mental disability

i've been in seoul 6 months. i've seen a grand total of 2 retarded people, and one student (american, visiting seoul for the summer) at our hagwon who has something that i assume is cerebral palsy.

i could make a few broad assumptions about this issue...

1. koreans think that you lose face when you have a retarded child and therefore hide their 'shame'.
2. there's no infrastructure in place to provide support for families with retarded children.
3. korean society is such that, given their 'affliction', retarded kids are kept away from society for their own protection from the high levels of competition, or even just from playground taunts - korean kids are monsters when it comes to this.

does anyone know what exactly happens to these people? a friend said that they get 'sent away' to institutions/homes, but my coworker's girlfriend's sister has down's syndrome and lives at home with her folks.

any thoughts? i'd think that, given the population, there'd be more than just 2. it seems that walking in vancouver, i could see a rough average of one retarded person per day.

[Zyzyfer]

There were 3 kids like that at my old job. They were put into class with everyone else, but they weren't really expected to participate. I couldn't figure out what to make of it.

[FUBAR]

In Busan, everyday I see about 8 of them waiting to get picked up by the school bus to go to their "special" school.

That being said, I think there are about 10 students that should not be going to my school because they are too slow. I was really surprised to see that a deaf student was in one my glasses. Really surprised b/c the Korean co-teacher in my class didn't tell me anything for 4 months.

[paperbag princess]

at my first school, i had a slow child whom after i while i asked if she was "special" (i mean she spent most of her time drooling on pencils) to which my former employer yelled and screamed to me that i was way outta line in asking this. all i wanted to know was whether she was a bad kid or a special needs kid. he said that was insulting.

didn't you know that there are no special needs people in korea?

[Corporal]

I think some of my co-workers are "special needs" sometimes.

[Pyongshin Sangja]

I like drooling on pencils. Are you a trained psychologist? Be careful when making your diagnoses. I would be angry, too.

[Jasmine]

I'm in HK now, but I think what I'm about to say goes for a lot of Asia.

I teach at an international kindergarten here and one of my students OBVIOUSLY has a communication disorder...After doing a lot of research on the subject, I believe him to be autistic . I spend 21 hours a week with this student and I talk to his parents everyday.
His parents act like there's nothing wrong with him at all and my school won't let me say anything to them because apparently doctors won't diagnose autism until a kid is 3 (he's 2.5 years) and they don't want me to upset them.
To me, this is completely ridiculous. ..and unacceptable!!!
1. His parents must know. He's socially imapired. He doesn't talk - he doesn't make a sound in fact unless his daily routine is disrupted - then he screams. As well, he doesn't smile, laugh or make eye-contact.
2. He doesn't care that there are people around him. He's in his own little world, and you are just something that gets in his way.
3. He's obsessed with letters and numbers and nothing else. That's all he wants to look at all day long - he's not interested in toys, books or imaginitave play, let alone the other children.
4. He never does anything that's not bad. I'd love it if he'd just space out for a bit, but he doesn't. He takes all the childrens cups and throws them on the floor. Then he rips the alphabet of the wall...then he'll run over to a table, climb on it and stand up. He's forever spilling all the crayons on the floor just so that he can grab one and look at the writing on the side. It's constant. I never get a break.
His parents come to my school and they can see what the other kids can do - speak in sentences, play with each other, interact and communicate properly...make eye contact, for crying out loud.
I've been complaining about him since January. My school knows there's a problem but they won't do anything about it;
I understand it would be a horrible thing to find out that your kid most likely has autism - especially your only son (if you're asian), but it still doesn't change the fact that he is. It's all bullsh*t face-saving stuff... you'd think they'd be interested in getting him some help. But everyone here wants to pretend that he's normal - they seem to think that if we treat him this way that he eventually will be just like the other kids.
I think he'd be far better off if they'd just accept him as he is and get him some treatment... but you know how it goes.

[Kwangjuchicken]

A few years ago on Koje Do I went to a graduation party for the sister of one of my students/ friends from the college. She had just received her BA in Psychology with a 4.0 from a top school in the USA.

Why did she go to the USA? Because she has very bad Cerebral Pausy, and as such, no school in Korea would take her application seriously. And think about it, because she did it in the USA, she had to do it all in a foreign language.

She also had a perfect score on the TOEFL.



.

[schwa]

I teach 3 special ed teachers (2 elementary & one secondary level) & you couldnt hope for more caring & well-trained professionals. Two of them have graduate degrees in their field from American universities & they get ongoing inservice training too.

Their schools provide them with well-equipped dedicated classrooms & they have free rein in creating special programs for very small classes or even individual students. If their kids are up to it, theyre encouraged to 'participate' in some regular classes. Its socialization for them & a valuable lesson in tolerance for the other students. In my experience the other kids are reasonably kind to them.

My middleschool custom-built a 1st-floor regular classroom to accommodate a girl who cant maneuver stairs & is also none too bright. I've coaxed some english out of her & her classmates spontaneously applauded -- well you should have seen her beam!

One of these teachers I teach is physically disabled herself -- permanently crutch-bound -- but an inspiration to her students. I'm also pleased to note a chapter in this year's 2nd-year english text devoted to acceptance of people with disabilities.

Tough to be 'different' & probably doubly so in Asia but I do note a progressive trend away from warehousing the unfortunates.

[Gollum]

I have some retarded/slow girls in my classes.

One of them is very obviously retarded. It\'s sweet, because the other girls kind of take care of her. At first I felt so sorry for her because everyone ignored her, but after several weeks, she made some friends who looked out for her and held her hand wherever they went. Then our classes changed, and she remained, but her friends moved to a higher level. I was worried about that, and since she doesn\'t do anything but stare at her book in class anyway (she\'s too retarded to learn in a normal class situation), I asked her if she\'d like to transfer to be with her friends again. She said, \"no\", and the other teachers said it\'s because she likes me, which was sweet (I sometimes give her stickers or joke with her to try to make her smile). Anyway, I was worried about her, but she\'s now made some more friends who look out for her.

I sometimes wonder what kind of life she will have. I\'m sure she\'d never marry. She\'ll never be able to live on her own, I\'d guess. I just try to make her smile.

[inkoreaforgood]

Had a student at the college level who was special. He really was special, because he could speak much more English than the 'normal' students. Exams were a problem for him, he pulled a C, but if he wanted to say something to me, he would say it. Wouldn't flip out because the teacher was asking him a question!!

Guy was sweet too. The road to the school was very busy, despite being a dead end street in the middle of nowhere. Students walking up and down the street, with military vehicles, buses and trucks, student-driven cars all flying by at too high speeds. He got a whistle and stood there in his spare time guarding the students. Nice kid, but none too popular despite his obvious good heart.

[Grotto]

The public school I will be going to in September has a special needs class. I got to meet 3 of the students, one appears to have a high level of retardation, one of the others is a young girl in a wheelchair and appears autistic and the third has cerebral palsy.

I have worked with cerebral palsy victims before and look forward to helping out a little if they will let me.

[yangban]

Some of my students were that way. I see many special people here, out in the open. In Korea, they are hidden away.

[itaewonguy]

[peppergirl]