555 Shaved-Head People with Developmental Disabilities and Their Families: "Transition Committee, Establish a 24-Hour Support System"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] Ahead of Disabled Persons Day on the 20th, people with developmental disabilities and their families carried out a group head-shaving event demanding the establishment of a 24-hour support system.

On the 19th, the National Parents' Solidarity for the Disabled held a group head-shaving ceremony and a press conference in front of the Hyoja Police Substation near the Blue House in Jongno-gu, Seoul. It is reported that about 2,000 people participated in the event.

Among them, 555 people took part in the group head-shaving. Not only people with developmental disabilities but also their caregiving family members participated in the head-shaving. Jang Hye-young, a Justice Party lawmaker, also joined the head-shaving to urge the National Assembly to pass the Disability Rights Act and the Deinstitutionalization Act within this month. Lawmaker Jang said, "It has been two years since I became a member of the National Assembly, but I am sorry for making you take to the streets again." Kim Ye-ji, a proportional representative lawmaker of the People Power Party, and Han Byung-do, a Democratic Party lawmaker with a child with developmental disabilities, also showed solidarity.

On this day, they urged the Presidential Transition Committee to include the establishment of a 24-hour support system as a national agenda. Yoon Jong-sul, the representative of the National Parents' Solidarity for the Disabled, said, "If parents suddenly disappear, their children will be left alone in this world without any support," and asked, "Is it an unreasonable demand to ask for a world where there are no parents or siblings?"

According to the organization, the lack of national support services for people with developmental disabilities leads to a burden on their families. Therefore, they demanded ▲restructuring and expansion of activity services for people with developmental disabilities ▲income security for people with developmental disabilities ▲guarantee of labor rights for people with developmental disabilities ▲guarantee of housing rights for people with developmental disabilities ▲guarantee of educational rights for people with developmental disabilities.

After the head-shaving ceremony, they planned to move to the Financial Supervisory Service Training Institute in Tongui-dong, where the Transition Committee is located, and deliver a box containing their hair along with their policy demands to the committee.