Su-mi is blind, but IT has helped her to live a more normal life. She takes notes by computer using ‘Braille Hansone’, which is a notebook based on Braille. She reads books by downloading Braille books from the Internet. She watches EBS (Education Broadcasting System) with the help of Screen Explanation Broadcast, she chats with her friends through the Internet.

   Min-su had a car accident and now has to live with the help of a wheelchair. However, he still enjoys playing basketball. A game he had enjoyed before the crash. However, now the games are played using a wheelchair on the basketball court.  

   Like Su-mi and Min-su, we think disabled people’s lives are getting better by IT and many facilities are now built to help the disabled. We think we understand them enough and know what they are going through by simulating the experiences of the handicap’s life, like experiencing blindness by covering our eyes and walking around with a walking stick. However, how many ‘Su-mi’s or ‘Min-su’s do you think we have among the Korean disable? In reality, living a somewhat normal life as a disabled person is expensive.

▲ Braille keyboard

            

             Economic reasons

   It seems like you need to be a millionaire to live a life like ‘Su-mi’, using all kinds of electronics and medical orthosis for the disabled. As mentioned above, the ‘Braille Hansone’ notebook costs around 5,000,000 to 6,000,000 won. As for ‘Min-su’ the basketball wheelchair costs around 4,000,000 to 5,000,000 won. Other devices such as disable specialized keyboards or foot controlled mouse costs 1,950,000 and 450,000 each, which is 40 times more expensive than the normal keyboard or mouse we use. To our shock, the electronic wheelchair costs 2,300,000 to 25,000,000 won which are the most essential items for the disabled. “It is so expensive because most of them are imported,” says Yoon, Se Wan, who is a Wheelchair Rugby Coach. “The markets for disabled items are very small inKorea, so there are not many Korean made products. Even if there is Korean made items, the quality is terrible compare to the imported ones. People usually use medical orthosis and devices that are imported from Germany or Japan.” When asked if there were any kind of government support in making such purchases, he said “Nearly none.” A senator from the Uri Party, Jang, Hyang Sook says, “There is a law that supports the disable with about 2,080,000 won when you purchase an electronic wheelchair. However, the law is only at the beginning stage. There are some insurance that pay for the medical orthosis, but that is for the few people who have been insured, of course.” She adds, “I think the insurance should be more supportive in buying disabled products. If these kinds of insurances expand, then the market for the disabled products will expand, therefore this may lower the prices of the disabled products. However, all these insurances are also at the beginning stage, too.”

             Social Welfare Reasons

   A recent report about social participation and the disabled showed that social welfare services and facilities to help the disabled were unhelpful to the handicap. The statics showed that only 6 out of 10 of the deaf did not understand the broadcast with a sign language translation. In addition, 4 out of 10 understood only half of the broadcasting with captioned because the caption and the screen were not matched. As for the blind, the Screen Explanation Broadcast was on the air for only 4 percent of the total broadcasting. Lee, Sang Je, a blind handicap person, said, “The Screen Explanation Broadcasting is helpful, but it is so restricted and almost in a state of test run.” The Screen Explanation Broadcast is only 5.9 percent in use, as for the Caption Broadcast, it is only 40 percent in use and caption receiver is in use only 13 percent of the time. Finally, the sign language translate broadcasting in used in less than 1 percent of the programs.

   In reality, the blind cannot easily access the Internet. Most of public institution websites only run the web for the blind informally, as the updates are slow and the amount of information is very low. Therefore, in a real world, the blind cannot possibly dream of having a chat through the Internet with friends.

   Lee, Sang Je also added, “Guide Blocks and Sign Lamps for the blind are also unhelpful. The sign lamps work by remote control, but this often malfunctions.”

             Do people really experience being disabled?

   CAH conducted a survey about the experiences of CAU students and the disabled. The question was ‘Did you really feel how serious the disabled situation is after the experience or did you have fun experiencing a new environment?’

   Eight-five percent said they had fun in experiencing being handicapped and only 15 percent felt how serious their lives and situations are compared to the normal person’s life. One CAU student said, “I did the handicap experience in Middle School. My friends and I had fun while blinding ourselves with cloth and joking around like you have a bug on your arm or leading their friends the wrong way.” Another students said, “I did not really have fun with such an experience nor did I feel how seriously disadvantaged the disabled are. I just did not like being in the dark and I thought it was a waste of time.” Like this, most students feel that the experience of being handicapped is just some recreation you do with your friends. They do feel sorry for the disabled in a formal way, but not with a sincere understanding. This is another kind of malfunction of the handicapped industry that we have to face to help the disabled to be independent in their life.

 

   So, why do we need to be concerned about the disabled? Why do we need to help them to be independent? Is it only because they need help? That they need to pursue their rights? However, it is more than this; it is because they are considered citizens and are a labor power for the country like everybody else. We should not treat the disabled as only disabled; we should treat them like a person who could change the world. This mind is the difference between the disabled industry in a developed country and that in a developing country. For example, America tries really hard to make the handicap economically independent to use them as part of the labor force. They educate them, support them financially and make their traveling as easy as possible. However, in Korea, when you become disabled they barely give any type of education to the disabled and try to make their life easier by making them marry with less disabled ones. People in Korea do not treat them as a working force. “It is very different between America and Korea,” says Lee, Sang Je. “Of course the facilities are different too, but mainly the mind on how they treat the disabled is most different.” Jang, Hyang Sook said, “I enjoy drinking with friends and sharing our minds. People who are handicapped can smoke and drink too, but people in Korea seem to be so shocked by that. We are the same as other people.”

             All kinds of facilities, welfare services, and activities to help a handicap person to live a normal life is now evaluated as unhelpful. And it is not only the responsibility of the government, but also ourselves. Do you really think you feel sorry for the handicapped?

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