It has been four years since the Moon Jae-in government put an end to the disability rating system. The system, which had been maintained for nearly 20 years since 1988, had been constantly pointed out for providing uniform services based only on one’s medical status. The need for a 'user-centric' system led to the abolishment of the disability rating system. But it didn not take long for the disabled people who long demanded the abolition of the system to come back to the streets, to raise criticism that “the abolition is a mere facade.”

The abolition made two significant changes. First of all, the disability rating system with the classes from 1 to 6 was replaced with a two-tier disability level system of “mild (previously grades 4 to 6)” and “severe (previously grades 1 to 3).” And second, the newly introduced “Comprehensive Survey on Service Provision (Comprehensive Survey)” meant that an investigator needed to visit the homes of disabled people in person, instead of the previous "Personal Assistance Recognition Survey" which only focused on classifying the disabled people. The replaced survey aimed to investigate all persons with disabilities, of their needs and their conditions by expanding the scope of evaluation from activity assistant services, assistance device issues, admission to disabled residential facilities, and daytime activities for people with developmental disorders etc. Accordingly, the Personal Assistance Service (PAS), previously given only to grades 1 to 3 (currently known as severe), is now available to anyone with disability registration.[1]

However, the disabled organizations criticized this system saying that their opinion had not been taken enough since the preparation stage of the disability rating system’s abolition. After the disabled people’s claim on abolition for over five years, the first joint public-private consultative meeting was held in 2017. At that time, the disability organizations requested reservations in changing the disability rating to disability levels. They asserted the invalidity of the concept of classifying disability, but the government maintained their stance. Furthermore the evaluation method of the Comprehensive Survey, which determines the PAS time, was done by the government's unilateral decision without discussion with the disability organizations. The problematic abolition of the disability rating system, which could not reflect the voices of its users, also led to loopholes in terms of operation.

First, there was insufficient budget and support to reorganize the welfare system. The PAS budget did increase from 690.7 billion won in 2018 to 1.35 trillion won in 2019, when the disability rating system was abolished. However, this was only a result of reflecting natural increases such as an increase in service unit prices and the increase in assistance service users; the actual budget supported to individual disabled people remained unchanged. As of 2023, the disabled people’s welfare budget has not been substantially guaranteed, and organizations including the Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination are continuing to protest over the issue.

Second, although the barrier to entry of the service itself has been lowered, the Comprehensive Survey’s table does not properly determine the type and characteristics of the disability and the needs of the service according to the individual environment. PAS is not all available just by application and must meet the Comprehensive Survey score criteria required for each service. One evaluation area of the survey, "function restriction," consists of items that evaluate performance level for activity of daily living and items related to cognitive behavioral characteristics.[2] Therefore, to receive 480 hours of service per month, the highest point of the comprehensive survey, one should have both quadriplegia and cognitive impairment. As of June 2022, only 11 people nationwide met this standard, which is only 0.01% of users of the PAS. In the end, the number of service benefits for some disabled people who previously received activity support services decreased. This is because even though the number of service targets has been expanded to include the entire disabled population, the budget remains the same, and the comprehensive survey does not properly capture the needs of the person in need of help.

However, the biggest problem is that the changed system still focuses only on "what the disabled person cannot do." In the Comprehensive Survey, the evaluation rate of physical limitations is overwhelmingly high at 89%. In other words, the need for services is identified from a single evaluation standard of the medical status as before. The comprehensive survey table still excludes asking what services the disabled people need or want. People with disabilities still have to prove and appeal their incompetence, as they can only receive more services if they are judged as ‘incapable’ in the Comprehensive Survey.

In the end, the only change after the abolition of the disability rating system was the reduction from six grades to two, and the increase in consumers who are sharing and using insufficient services. The abolition of the disability rating system did not achieve the goal of reflecting the voices of the disabled people throughout the introduction process and results, as well as establishing a user-centric  system. April 20^th is Persons with Disabilities Day, a day established by the Korean government to raise public understanding of disabled people and increase the disabled people’s willingness of rehabilitation. On the occasion of that, the government should look back on how far the rights of disabled people have been guaranteed by reflecting on the fundamental aim of the abolition of the disability rating system.