Although South Korea ranks as one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, the nation’s advancements toward equality for people with disabilities are lacking. Out of the 1.3 billion people worldwide living with a disability, as reported by the World Health Organization, about 2.5 million reside in South Korea. That makes up about 5% of the country’s total population. This includes those with physical disabilities, speech and hearing disabilities and visual disabilities. Multiple factors contribute to the challenging environment surrounding disability, and both disability and poverty in South Korea share an evident link.

Disability Plunges People Into Poverty

Poverty casts a vicious shadow over more than 30% of households with disabled people in South Korea. Those with disabilities face more barriers to success than their abled counterparts, including inaccessible education and employment environments, reduced human rights, discrimination and a general lack of inclusion in their communities. A higher rate of chronic diseases found in disabled people also contributes to excess health care expenses and a higher mortality rate.

Stigma Increases Difficulties and Decreases Resources

One of the most serious factors pushing disabled households into poverty is discrimination due to stigma. Disability is viewed negatively in South Korea. Families often consider disabled members as damaging to their social status and limit their public interactions with them. This often leaves disabled members confined to their homes, cared for by relatives, but never given the opportunity to fully join society. Common Korean superstitions also play a role in stigmatization. Many believe that disability is a result of sins committed in a past life, an ancestor’s misdeeds or being haunted by a ghost.

After a surge in activism following the 1964 Tokyo Paralympics, Korean policymakers supported institutionalizing the disabled as a cost-effective way to satisfy both activists and government agendas. Through these residential institutes, the government promoted social order and promised to alleviate family burdens so that nondisabled members could join the workforce. However, major human rights abuses plagued these institutes. Celeste Arrington, an associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, writes that these abuses included “forced sterilizations, sexual abuse, beatings and deaths due to such mistreatment.” Although such institutions still exist, activists have brought attention to the abuses and a push for deinstitutionalization in recent years has encouraged reform.

Protests Continue in Subway Stations Across Seoul

Even those currently protesting for accessible transportation are facing discrimination as well. Protesters in Seoul have gathered during the morning rush and advocated near entrances to major stations for well over a year. The protests center around increasing funding for improving accessibility, primarily the installation of elevators in every subway station.

However, commuters’ attitudes toward the protesters remain hostile. Some say that protesters are inconveniencing commuters and that what they are doing is wrong. Others point out that people with disabilities already have access to many facilities. Even the mayor of Seoul, Oh Se-hoon, chooses to highlight how damaging the protests have been to everyday commuters and states he is taking a “zero tolerance” stance. Progress on his plans to install the elevators has been slow.

The Fight for Rights Rages On

One of the protesters, Hong Yunhui, and her wheelchair-bound daughter, Jimin, are playing their part to help make life easier for people with disabilities in South Korea. Yunhui’s social venture, Muui, works to combat the disability stigma by encouraging people with disabilities not to be defined by them. The mother-daughter team also works on creating interactive maps showing accessible locations in Seoul and has already completed more than 1,000 maps.

The organization Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination (SADD) has aided the subway protests since its inception. Even a chief of SADD, Park Kyoung-seok, has personally participated. Despite being referred to prosecution earlier this year, he promised that SADD would continue to support the protests. SADD staged the five-year sit-in to eliminate the grading system responsible for generalizing the individual needs of people with different disabilities. Eliminating discrimination, fighting for equal rights, upholding the right to mobility and labor and supporting independent living are what SADD stands for and how it works to improve disability and poverty in South Korea.

Despite a history of mistreatment and stigmatization, South Korea is slowly progressing toward better conditions for people with disabilities. The voices of those with disabilities are now amplified thanks to the work of organizations such as SADD and innovative individuals like Yunhui and Jimin.

– Isabella Rothe
Photo: Flickr