[Square] A World Without Distinction Between Disabled and Non-Disabled

With the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, we have come to realize how precious the things we took for granted every day truly are. In particular, this moment has allowed us to recognize the significance of school life and the importance of the school education process for students with disabilities.

The first key task in the 2021 Ministry of Education work plan is the ‘Restoration of Daily School Life.’ The National Institute of Special Education, an institution under the Ministry of Education responsible for implementing the government’s special education policies, is making multifaceted efforts to restore daily life and guarantee learning rights for students with disabilities. One of its priority projects is the ‘Customized Remote Education Support Project for Students with Disabilities,’ through which it develops and provides various content and services. Existing remote education platforms did not consider accessibility according to disability types, limiting their use by students with disabilities.

Through building a customized platform that includes screen magnification and alternative text for visually impaired students, real-time captions for hearing-impaired students, screen operation support for students with physical disabilities, and simplified user interfaces (UI) for students with intellectual disabilities, the institute aims to support all students with disabilities to participate smoothly in remote education.

However, no matter how special the special education-related content or systems provided are, their practical use ultimately depends on the teachers who implement them concretely in the classroom. The reality is that, due to already excessive workloads, it is not easy for teachers to prepare lessons considering each student’s situation, learning readiness, interests, and preferred learning styles.

Despite these adverse conditions, Korean teachers possess the professionalism to create a remarkably good educational environment. In fact, except for the fact that they ‘learn,’ all students are different. I hope that students with disabilities in inclusive education environments will be viewed as part of this diversity.

As of April 2020, there were approximately 95,420 students eligible for special education, of whom about 72%, or 68,805 students, were receiving inclusive education in general schools. The number of students with disabilities receiving inclusive education is increasing every year. However, even within the framework of inclusive education, students with disabilities are still placed within a dichotomous structure of disabled and non-disabled.

When I was working as the Director of Special Education Policy at the Ministry of Education, I witnessed the heartbreaking situation where parents of students with disabilities knelt and tearfully pleaded amid local community opposition to the establishment of special schools. This motivated active promotion of special school establishment, leading to the announcement of plans to establish 22 special schools at that time, as well as efforts to establish special schools specializing in arts, physical education, and vocational training for students with disabilities at national universities.

South Korea is an advanced country that became the seventh in the world to join the ‘30-50 Club,’ which requires a per capita gross national income exceeding $30,000 among countries with populations over 50 million. Although we have already entered the ranks of advanced countries, it is disheartening and regrettable to confirm that discrimination and prejudice against people with disabilities still prevail in our society.

Helen Keller once said that if she were a university president, she would want to create a course called ‘How to Use Your Eyes’ to let people know how grateful they should be to be able to see. What we have habitually enjoyed may be something desperately needed by someone else. I hope for a world where people with disabilities are not seen through the eyes of non-disabled people but are respected as one form of diversity, just as the 7.9 billion people in the world are all uniquely different.

Hanwoo Lee, Director of the National Institute of Special Education