Our
group intend to study disabled students of Korea, especially 'Disabled
students of SNU'.
We
selected this subculture because of the following reasons:
1. Availability
for speaking English
2.
Physical adjacency
3. Established
connection with our group
Through
research and discussion, we identified the most common stereotypes about
disabled students is ‘extremeness’. Most people bring one of two images
in their mind when they are asked to think about disabled person. They either
think of ‘Redemption scenario’ which is related with dramatically overcoming their
disability, or ‘Despair scenario’ which is about submitting to their
disability.
So
we have set our goal to study about the ‘real disabled people’ living around us. Since we have connection with student club ‘Turntoable(student
community whose objective is to provide environment that disabled students can
study without inconvenience)’ we would be able to contact with disabled SNU
students and SNU students who help disabled students.
Interview
schedules would be set during early October and we intend to conduct our
interviews inside SNU campus.
And
these are the researches we have done about how disabled people are living in
Korea.
Recommend
to watch this video from 29:50
This
interview footage introduces Professor Kim Jong-Bae, at Department of
Occupational Therapy, Yonsei University. At age of 24, he injured his neck
and since then, he could not move his body below waist. However, he did not
fell in despair and started to develop assistive devices for disabled people
like him. This video is about his struggle for helping other disabled
people.
Two
families with disabilities, two very different stories
“Glittering
Hands,” is an autobiographical documentary that a daughter narrates the real story
about her parents with hearing impairments. This documentary depicts the lives of disabled people as peaceful and harmonious. Yet, “Thank You, Daddy”, a French film about a
father and his disabled son,emphasize the difficulties that disabled person and his family go though.
Im
rising as star in wheelchair tennis
Im
Ho-won, 17, is a Korean wheelchair tennis player, and was recently ranked in world No.
35. Despite his physical challenge, people give him a chance to
play tennis by giving him a tennis racket,a ball and scholarship with no
hesitance. He is now a rising star in tennis worldwide, and he will participate in the
Rio Paralympics next year.
This autobiographical article is about a Korean student who has a cerebral palsy. He says that he is fed up with people's perspective that either praises him for his spirit or pities him for his disability. He always wants to be independent and consider that the
Korean government should give disabled people more chances to get a job instead of just providing them financial support.
This article was written by Lenore Dillon, a Visionaware peer advisor. She has come to South Korea to
teach the students with disabilities in Korea Nazarene University. She tells story about solving wheelchair parking
problems at campus, since her husband is on wheelchair.
The "Disability Now" website is under construction until December, so I wasn't able to access that article through the link you provided. However, I found it here: http://allaboutdevelopmentaldisabilities.blogspot.kr/2009/11/koreas-invisible-people.html
답글삭제Thank you for all the resources; I think it was well selected to help us understand the situation for the disabled in Korea, and what stereotypes Korean people have upon them.
답글삭제First of all, I was very moved by the video interviewing professor Kim-Jong Bae. It was especially touching to hear that he achieved his dreams without realizing it, after 30 years. Through the video, I could learn that disabled people are not less productive, but that they probably just need a bit more devices and services in life. It changed my perspective towards disabled people's ability and I also thought that rehabilitation engineering is an interesting area(maybe I should study towards that).
Also, I wanted to agree on what you said about stereotypes being extreme. It occurred to me that I too, get feelings of extreme movement in heart either by pity or respect. I haven't read your latter articles nor seen your presentation yet, but I'm very willing to change my stereotypes just like how my thoughts changed thanks to Mr. Kim's interview video.
I think it's quite organized post, that shows contrast side of Disabled in Korea. My brother has some disability that he can't use left had and leg. It's not totally paralyzed, so it's not that difficult to living in normal life, but in the case of facing hard situation, there comes the problem. For instance, if he wants to play sports with his friends, it's quite difficult, so he can't join in P.E class easily. Like tennis player in your post, sports might be tough for disabled. Also, he had some pressure to overcome his disability. Like posted on your blog, many disabled feel that too. Media shows the 'overcoming' more astoundingly, and cause of this, they feel pressure to overcome their disability too. I think we not only have to help disabled but, also we have to keep their independence. Like posted in your blog, we have to give them more chance (like affirmative action).
답글삭제I'm sorry that the prof. Kim had to go to US so that he could get a driver's license. Our infrastructure wasn't developed as US was and I don't know if it's available now for the disabled to get the license. It's way of elevating their independence and self-esteem. About Im's article, I used to think that why it should be limited to the disabled. I mean, it seems quite demanding and energetic sports, so everybody could enjoy or join that sports. That way we can have more interests about their life and be familiar with them.
답글삭제All of those materials that you've post were so interesting. I got to learn a lot of new things about people with disability. Many people say that we should change a crisis into a chance. Kim Jongbae, interviewee in the Youtube clip, did it very well. He said that when he imagine or think of his life without disability, he can't say that that life would be better than this life. But I also think that mass media, which extremely try to catch the public's attention, usually focus on only the physically challenged people like Kim, not like the parents shown on the movie . Only passionate people who overcame their disabilities gets spotlight. So we should be aware of our bias. Thanks for your post!
답글삭제The Korean Herold article ‘Two families with disabilities, two very different stories’ really touched my heart. There was a deaf person in my middle school, and whenever I passed her in the corridor, I wondered about her life as a deaf. We were not that close, so I could not ask any questions, but I always wanted to know the world that deaf people live in. The fact their eyes see the exact same world as my eyes, but cannot hear the noise that it makes, somehow amused me. Through this article, I could learn a little bit about the world that deaf people live in.
답글삭제It's HyeJin!
삭제From the article of a cerebral palsy student, I cannot agree more with him/her about getting job issue for the disabled students in Korea. I've always wondered what they can do to make money, when it's well known that a lot of private companies avoid hiring the disable. The student's saying 'the disable need to get a job, more than mere financial support or tax relief' reminds me of the old saying 'Teach how to fish, rather than catch fish'. We really need to find ways to make them live their own independent lives as individuals.
답글삭제The article about VisionAware Peer makes me remember a story about the blind. I heard that there are so many blinds in Korea (I don't know the exact number, though), but the reason why we do not encounter them often or rarely on the street is that they choose to stay inside their house because of the danger they confront when go out and the eye's of other pedestrians. Still they must have the desire to enjoy their lives as normal, walking outside, enjoying shopping, etc,. We really need to foster more disable-friendly environment in the city.
I was really surprised when watching the video. I had no idea that assistive technology would be divided into two. One being device, other being service. I didn't know much about rehabilitation technology and I believe I learned a lot from the video. Also, the most interesting article was when a movie producer Lee-kil said that we shouldn't view the disabled as somebody overcoming their hardships and how they became so successful. She said that she wanted other people to view her parents simply having a culture of their own. This was very shocking statement, because I didn't think disability as some type of culture. I thought it was more of an obstacle they had to go through in order to become successful and happy. Like other videos that we watched when we talked about breaking stereotypes in class, it gave me inspiration and I hope to learn more as I read more and more of your blog posts.
답글삭제I'm Okchul Jung, by the way.
I loved reading all your blogposts and I especially liked the video. Maybe because I major in mechanical engirneering, I thought the idea of helping disabled people with robotic technology was very interesting. As I watched the professor talk about it and see that he is very happy about what he does, I was a little convinced about his major. I wanted the happiness he has with the things he does.
답글삭제I loved reading all your blogposts and I especially liked the video. Maybe because I major in mechanical engirneering, I thought the idea of helping disabled people with robotic technology was very interesting. As I watched the professor talk about it and see that he is very happy about what he does, I was a little convinced about his major. I wanted the happiness he has with the things he does.
답글삭제