There is disparity in our prejudice towards the disabled; there are many disabled people who are doing incredible things around us. The Chung-Ang Herald (CAH) met and interviewed three handicapped people to better understand them, and in the process learned that in fact there are few differences between the disabled and the normal citizen.
“Society must give us opportunity because we also have ability to do something as normal people.”
1. Do you know ‘wheelchair rugby’? Probably not, the concept is not familiar to us, because we have never seen or experienced such a sport. Wheelchair rugby is not different from any other rugby sport in that it is intense action, strong usage of a ball, requires endurance and so on. In 1996, wheelchair rugby was presented as an example sport in theAtlanta Olympic Games. In addition, in 2004 at the Sydney Olympic Games, wheelchair rugby became formally recognized as a regular game. In Korea and around the world, Yoon, Se-wan is the first Korean man, who spread information about wheelchair rugby to Korean society. Now, he is the coach of ‘Seoul Pass’, the first and strongest of the disabled wheelchair rugby teams.
His student number is 78 (It means that he entered Chung-Ang University in 1978) and his major was Physical Education in the College of Education. He was very healthy and powerful. However, in June 1989, one automobile accident changed his life. After the automobile accident, he was paralyzed all over his body, and had to depend on a wheelchair. When he became disabled, it was difficult to accept the situation that he must now live an odd life as a handicapped person.
However, whenever he was restricted to his home, he felt that he was belittled. Therefore, he decided to restart his whole life through a personal re-challenge. He felt happy and gratified about his life as he moved his body a little bit. He tried to enjoy each small victory from the small movements he made in his paralyzed body. In the end, he could live a second life and regain his desire for life. And now, he is working as a team coach.
Yoon, Se-wan thinks that changing one’s thinking is the most important part of learning to live with a handicap. Yet, it was during the darkest and most sorrowful times after his accident that he now regards as the most significant of his life’s history. He says that society has to give many opportunities to the disabled, for the handicapped are not that different from normal people. There is only one difference – just a physical handicap.
“We are the same as you except for the inconvenience of moving.”
Do you like the clarinet? One man is playing the clarinet. His performance is very sweet and lovable. His name is Lee, Sang-jae. Even though he is blind, his ability to treat the instrument perfectly is surprising beautiful to us. He is very famous in Korean society and provides us with opportunities to consider the skills and talents of the disabled. In fact, Lee, Sang-jae studied very well and got high grades. Therefore, there were many proposals and suggestions that he become a teacher or academic. However, he wanted to become a musician and advance in the field of music. His parents and teachers were opposed to his decisions. Nevertheless, he did not give up his dream and endeavored to persuade his parents and school instructors because he was crazy for music. With a chosen major and big dream about his future, he entered Chung-Ang University. He was admitted in Orchestral Music in the College of Music. After he entered the school, he felt how difficult and laborious it was going to be to graduate. However, he was grateful, because it was a common phenomenon that disabled people could not apply to universities and many schools did not want to get applications from people if they were disabled and wanted to enter the school. Therefore, he could be happy with just his permission to enter school. After he graduated, he went to study to the United States and got a doctoral degree.
These days, he is working as a Professor at Nazarene and Baekseok Universities, and moving to perform in front of many audiences. Moreover, he has released a crossover music disk.
Finally, he advised us to know only one thing “when you meet and see the disabled, please regard us as normal people. Even if physical activities are difficult for us, we are not different from the un-disabled.”
Thilhard de Chaedi said, “We can control ourselves to be changed.”
3. In the National Assembly building, a woman is working towards an impossible but feasible dream. Her name is Jang, Hyang-sook. She is a member of the 17th National Assembly of Republic of Korea and working for the human rights of the disabled. She was born in 1958 in the small countryside province of Kyungsangbuk-do. In fact, she was very healthy. However, before turning 2, she suffered from Poliomyelitis, and was paralyzed. She was lock inside the house. There was no possibility to learn, work, and/or marry. The only way that she could study was to study the Bible. Through the Bible, she could learn to read and from that time, she has read about ten thousand books of many theologians and thinkers including Kierkegaard, Martin Buber, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Schopenhauer. That is to say, in Korea, she suffered from three discriminations. The first was where she was living. It was not a city, but the countryside. Secondly, she suffered a disability. She would never be normal. Thirdly and finally, she suffered discrimination for being a female and not a male. Furthermore, she had no public education experience or affluence. She was in a dark environment. However, she did not give up her precious life. Jang, Hyang-sook said, “There were no people giving me any hope. But I knew prejudice toward me was only prejudice, not truth of my life.” Perceiving the situation given to her, she tried to regard herself as a promising and potential person. Therefore, she went out to dedicate her whole life to human rights of the handicapped despite the many disadvantageous she faced. Throughout her life, she has been activite in helping the handicapped, women, and people with low incomes. Eventually, she entered the National Assembly building and became an assembly member. “In Korea, the values of women are three - proctor in house, sexual object for men, and cheap laborer – and very belittled. Moreover, a disabled female is not permitted to even existence in society. Many people see the female, who is handicapped as not having sexual needs, or having the rights to give a mother’s love. It is obvious bias. We are the same. We are the roots of human existence,” she said.
After you have read the above article, how do you feel about the handicapped? Though they are inconvenienced when they move, their potential and possibilities of significant contributions to society are great, and not so different from what we want. We must re-establish the basis of our thoughts that the disabled have abilities, thoughts, and feelings just like the rest of us.
