Parents Attend Interviews and Start Businesses... The Self-Reliance Challenge of Slow Learners [An Isolated Island on the Borderline]

③Facing Employment Difficulties After High School Graduation
Local Governments' Job Support Measures Are Inadequate
Focus on Social Skills Education and Play Experiences
Parents Form Associations to Choose Entrepreneurship

#Gu Seoyoung (56, pseudonym), residing in Songpa-gu, Seoul, goes to an unmanned cafe with her son Kim Wooyoung (23, pseudonym) at 8 a.m. sharp. The two clean the cafe by sweeping the floor and wiping the tables. Gu secured the job alone through an interview. The hourly wage is paid only to Gu. In effect, her son Kim works without pay.

Still, Gu is happy. She can teach her son the joy of labor. At first, Gu also attended the part-time job interview with her son. The store owners, feeling sorry for their situation, initially told them to come to work, but a few days later, they fired the son, asking only the mother to come. Gu resolved to find a job herself for her son, who refused to go out and hid at home.

Slow learners who have finished school face the final challenge of independence at the threshold of adulthood. The job market does not welcome them, considering them insensitive and lacking subtlety. They repeatedly enter and leave jobs over a few months and eventually become discouraged young job seekers.

Repeated Job Failures... Parents Roaming District Offices Searching for Support Measures

The lack of belonging in daily life and continuous rejection by society plunge them into helplessness. Lee Hyungwook (27, pseudonym), a slow learner living in Nowon-gu, Seoul, spends most of his day on the subway. Riding Line 2 around central Seoul and watching people is his only pleasure.

There was a time when Lee devoted himself to job hunting. Right after graduating high school, he visited dozens of convenience stores looking for part-time jobs. He applied several times to public job programs with a self-introduction letter written by his mother. However, due to his awkward speech and slow conversation speed, he failed to pass interviews. Concerned mothers roam district offices on behalf of their children, searching for employment support policies.

However, local governments running employment programs for them are few. Among the 25 autonomous districts in Seoul, 20 have enacted ordinances supporting slow learners, but most only allocate budgets to social welfare centers through lifelong education support project contests. Programs run directly by district offices mostly focus on emotional development or play experiences for school-age youth and adult slow learners.

Employment at a Cafe Funded by Parents... Ending Isolation and Gaining Hope

Parents who wandered district offices looking for support policies eventually took it upon themselves to find jobs for their children. ‘Hwi Cafe’ in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, a workplace for adult slow learners, was born from the hopes of these parents wishing for their children’s independence. It is operated mainly by the ‘Youth Forest Cooperative’ formed by parents of slow learners. The cooperative developed a startup idea in collaboration with Dongdaemun Comprehensive Social Welfare Center. The plan was selected for support under the Seoul National University Campus Town project. The cooperative capital, collected bit by bit by parents, was used as the cafe’s capital. In September last year, a second branch opened, increasing the staff to six.

Hwi Cafe has become a guide for adult slow learners who were lost and wandering. Park Wooyeon (28, pseudonym), who has worked there for two years, has found a goal for the first time since employment: to open his own cafe. Employment ended his life as a recluse. For the past two years, Park spent his days alone doing housework in an empty house after his family left.

Some regain lost confidence. Kim Jungwoo (33, pseudonym), who worked at Hwi Cafe for one and a half years, overcame trauma related to baking and customer service. A hotel bakery where he previously worked fired him after three months, saying he could not perform delicate icing work. Later, he started a convenience store part-time job, but the owner scolded him again for poor customer service. Hwi Cafe was different. When complicated orders piled up, CEO Kwon Ohjin slowly explained solutions over the phone. Following instructions step by step, even difficult orders were handled smoothly.

On the 4th, young adults with learning disabilities working at Huicafe in Jeonnong-dong, Seoul, invested by the Youth Forest Cooperative, are making coffee beverages.
[Photo by Heo Younghan]

CEO Kwon feels both joy and bitterness at their changes. He knows it is difficult to provide such opportunities to all slow learners. He said, “Some parents asked us to let their children work even without pay. There are many slow learners who want to work that much,” but added, “Although we are currently operating at a loss, we persist, but due to the nature of the grant project, continuous support is difficult.”

CEO Kwon appealed for support from the government and companies rather than relying on parents’ self-help. He emphasized, “Jobs have value beyond economic benefits such as social skills and independence for them. If suitable jobs are provided, they will become resources that contribute to creating social value.”

Editor's NoteThere are people living on a remote island called ‘slow learners.’ Experts estimate that about 1 in 10 people (13.6%) in the normal distribution of IQ live on this remote island. Their journey to adulthood is harsh. From the first diagnosis in infancy and early childhood to finding a career and becoming independent, every step is a struggle for survival. Parents bear monthly treatment costs of several million won to prevent their children from falling out of society and personally seek friendships and jobs. Recently, many local governments have enacted support ordinances, but these are often superficial or limited to youth support. Asia Economy met six parents of slow learner children in infancy and youth to examine the problems they face and seek solutions.