Building a 'Handicapped Welfare Village'

The story of the apartment complex in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province that has become a collective residence for the handicapped gives you a lot of food for thought. When the current residents first moved in half of the inhabitants were regular renters and owners or recipients of government "basic living guarantees." Regular renters departed and handicapped individuals kept moving in, however, and now one third of the apartment complex's residents are handicapped. You are struck by the sight of handicapped and non-handicapped people breaking down walls and living together as a community.

It is not by any means a good thing to see handicapped citizens coming together to live that way. In a healthy society handicapped and non-handicapped people should be able to live together anywhere in the country. The reality, however, is that most handicapped individuals to not have opportunities for employment and must depend on meager government support. In a way you could say that society is for all practical purposes segregating them. They say that those living there in Jeonju are ostracized by neighbors living outside the apartment complex. In our society there still exist walls that are difficult to surmount.

Once you recognize that, making places where handicapped persons have chosen to reside collectively better places to live would be the next course of action. It might even be more effective from a governmental and logistical point of view. Any one electric wheelchair that provided it would see a lot more use. The residents of the apartment complex in Jeonju dearly want to see a "handicapped persons rest area" built there. That should not cost much, so it is sad to see local officials taking more action.

Wednesday was "Handicapped Persons Day," and activists held a separate rally calling for an end to the discrimination, apart from the official government event. As of the end of last year citizens registered as handicapped number 1.61 million. They say that if you include the individuals who have not registered the number probably makes up 10 percent of the country. It is an avoidance of social responsibility if we continue to entrust their care to volunteers. The whole of society needs to get involved in having the government legislate active assistance for the handicapped. What is happening in Jeonju is a test for our society. There needs to be a change of thinking, one that seeks to make the apartment complex there a "handicapped welfare village" instead of a "quarantine area."

The Hankyoreh, 21 April 2005.

[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]