Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Where are the handicapped?
I want to ask you one question: Where do you think the 700,000 Korean physically handicapped people are? We shouldn't leave them to live a lonely, dead life in their rooms. Instead, they can live fuller lives as members of society. I believe that we all want them to live happy lives. Improving the public transportation system will help make our wishes come true.
by Lim Woo-sun, JoongAng Daily (April 19, 2005)
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200504/18/200504182214047239900090109013.html

[agraham]

Wierd synchronicity here. A few minutes ago I was in Lotteria. A woman handed me a bag and some paper saying "thankyou thankyou". I was busy trying to communicate "Hanwoo Bulgogi Burger Set with french fries" to the server, so I absentmindedly tossed them on the counter. When I turned back to her I realized she wasn't trying to give them to me, she was asking me to put the papers in the bag for her since she couldn't use her extremities very well. So of course I did.
As she was leaving I thought to myself where are all the handicapped people? It would be strange to walk outside for a while in Vancouver without seeing any.
Just one more reason to be thankful.

Edited to add:
just so there's no misunderstanding: thankful that we don't have to live handicapped in a society where's it's considered shameful... not thankful that they are hidden away or something like that...

[saharzie]

They are hidden away here, due to the extreme immaturity of society to cope with anything thats different. There was a movie that brilliantly focused on this problem (oasis??).

[khyber]

good lord saharzie...

just like, and i mean JUST like back home, handicapped people tend to be put in homes where they live most of their lives. Whether these are govt. or privately subsidized is beyond me. Anyone care to research?

The only really different between NA and here is that NA is just getting used to the idea of hiring handicapped people for menial tasks and jobs.
That said, there is a house for handicapped adults within sight of my house. They do almost all of the work around it. I have seen them do all sort of upkeep (not including "skilled" work [carpentry etc...]) ANd have seen them gardening. No they don't have "jobs", but they sure work and contribute in their own way. somewhere else in my dong there is a house for children. i saw them on the bus a few days ago. The rest of the people on the bus llooked a little uncomfortable but NO more so than back home on any bus. I actually want to try and do some volunteer work there. or maybe at an orphanage...trying to decide.

anyhoo
I don't doubt that korea's social views on retardation etc aren't as advanced as in the west, but don't make it a knee jerk reaction until you see SOMETHING or read something to support your view.


i don't recall oasis focusing on any such "problem". Though it's an AMAZING movie. If you want to see a great Korean movie, rent it. The actress isn't handicapped in real land which makes the performance that much more....inspiring.

[jajdude]

I looked at that article earlier. It's true you don't see many around. Strangely though I happened to see four guys in wheelchairs around a shopping area just before getting into work today. I thought that was unusual.

[peppermint]

I've got a handful of what I'd call special needs kids in my elementary school. A girl with a hearing aid is the only one with any obvious physical challenges, though I'm told that a few more have ADD, or are just special.


In some cases, I suspect the parents claim it's just ADD because that's more socially acceptable than "mildy retarded" or autistic.

[namsanboy]

Well great, very nice to show some concern for the handicapped. It's a bit late for the thousands of handicapped Koreans who gave their bodies and minds for this country but were left to drink themselves to death over the last four decades. Some Korean kid just woke up and started to wonder about handicapped people. That's SO wonderful. Where's the "apology" for all the years of neglect?

[saharzie]

Kyhber,

first of all my home is not your home; don't assume everyone lives, or is from, North America. I know where I live handicapped people are not automatically 'put into a home'. On my road there are three people with downs syndrome who are not in 'homes' but are living at home with their families. They all go to courses, and they all are as much part of their families as anyone else.
As for people looking uncomfortable on the bus when there are handicapped people on it, I havent noticed it.

[lastat06513]

One of the Tragedies of childbirth in Korea is that although it is illegal to tell the gender of the baby, but it is perfectly ok to say whether the baby is going to be deformed or not.
So, if the parents know the baby is going to be deformed, most of the time the pregnancy would be aborted.
The babies born are usually to parents too poor for the procedure or are christian and think all children are god's gifts.
I asked my students about that once in class and they simply said;
"Didn't you know? The doctor can tell about that so you can choose to abort or not."

I asked, "So, most people abort?"

They said, "Of course, who would want an unhealthy child?"

Got to wonder about this society sometimes.

[Konundrum]

While I was there, I often wondered if there was a genetic predispostion to hearing impairment in Korea.
I noticed a disproportionally large number of hearing impaired or mute Koreans. In all my years in North America, I have experienced/noticed only a small number of people who used sign language (sure, you see it on TV a lot...but I'm talking actual people), but in Korea, I seemed to come across sign language atleast weekly.


I had a mentally challenged boy in one of my classes too. He wasn't down syndrome, but you could tell by looking at him. At first, the other kids wanted nothing to do with him and teased him terribly, but this brave kid just kinda took it and gave it back once in a while. Eventually the other kids (actually, it was just the other boys..the girls still labelled him as cootie infested, but they thought all the boys were cootied infested) accepted him and they all became pretty good friends. The boys actually became quite protective of him and defended him when new kids or kids in other classes tried to tease him.

[cheem]

[peppermint]

Kyber- the situation you described is a little out of date- at least where I grew up.

Physically challenged people generally aren't put away any more, and it's not that common for developmentally challenged people either. The students I mentioned in my earlier post would certainly have gone to a normal school at home, though they might have had a special class, or a teaching assistant.

One of my old high school classmates competed in the Paralympics last summer and benched 197.5 kg in the powerlifting competition. From what I remember you would not want to use a word like "handicapped" around him either.

[schwa]

I was in a restaurant here last summer & a couple buses from Seoul pulled up with a large group of severely disabled people, who stopped in for lunch. Staff & patrons were very kind to them. They were en route to a beachside resort for a summer holiday & the scene was really quite heartwarming.

[namsanboy]

[khyber]