Welfare for the blind

The welfare for the blind (시각장애인을 위한 복지/視覺障碍人 福祉) is remarkably improved for the past few decades in Korea.

Historically the disabled including the blind were dependent on the charity of the society. But the civilized countries have paid more attention to the disabled. In Korea, as the economic growth enhanced the quality of life of ordinary citizens, the welfare for the disabled has been also improved as a whole.

Key words
disabled person, the blind, welfare, braille books, quality of life, OECD

History
In 1973, the Korean Welfare Foundation for the Visually Handicapped (한국시각장애인복지재단/韓國視覺障碍人福祉財團) was established for the welfare of the visually handicapped.

For the first time in 1940, the Peninsular Blind Federation (반도맹인연합회) was established, and continued its existence through the Korea Blind Association (대한맹인협회) in 1945, the Korea Blind Welfare Association (한국맹인복지협회) in 1957, and the Blind Welfare Committee under the Korea Social Welfare Federation (한국사회복지연합회 맹인복지위원회) in 1960s. Finally in June 1973, the social welfare entity for the blind set sail as the Korean Welfare Association for the Visually Handicapped (한국시각장애자복지회), and later the Korean Welfare Foundation for the Visually Handicapped in March 1998.

The blind person is able to live a social life, with appropriate assistance, as an ordinary person. Thus it is necessary to implement welfare programs for the blind so that the blind people may have opportunities to be properly educated and trained, and make a living as ordinary people.

Statutory ground
The Welfare for the Disabled Act (장애인복지법/障碍人福祉法) was first enacted in 1981 to prevent the disabled from occurring and to assist the rehabilitation of, and protect the disabled.

The main points of the Act are as follows:
 * Understanding that the disabled phyical condition is the responsibility of the society as a whole, not the individual one, the Act provides that 장애인을 누구나가 다 평등하게 그 존엄성과 가치를 인정하고 처우해야 할 것을 천명하는 동시에 장애인 본인 자신과 그 가족도 국가나 사회에 전적으로 의지하려는 태도를 버리고 그가 가지고 있는 능력을 최대한 활용하여 사회·경제활동에 참여하도록 노력할 것을 규정.
 * 장애인은 신체적으로나 정신적으로 부자유스러운 상태에 있는 점을 감안하여 보건사회부·서울특별시·광역시·도에 장애인복지지도원을 두어서 그들에 대한 상담과 지도업무 등을 담당하게 하였다.
 * 이들에 대한 복지를 위하여 질병이나 사고, 기타 원인으로 장애가 발생되지 않도록 국가나 지방자치단체는 국민의 관심을 높이고, 장애인에 대한 원호사상을 보급하기 위하여 국민을 지도, 계발하도록 하였다. 시장·군수 등은 이들에 대한 검진과 재활상담을 실시하는 외에 필요한 경우 이들을 의료기관에 의뢰하여 의료나 보건지도를 받게 하거나 복지시설에 입소 또는 통원하게 하거나 그 시설을 이용하게 하는 등의 조치를 하도록 하고 있다.

In particular, since Korea was admitted to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 1996, the welfare system and facilities have been remarkably upgraded. For instance, public facilities are equipped with raised blocks for the blind, wheelchair lifts for the disabled, escalators in line with the OECD standards. In this regard, this Act is functioning as a leverage to enhance the attention and consideration on the matter of the disabled in the public and private sector.

In addition, the Act on Special Education for Disabled Persons, etc. (장애인 등에 대한 특수교육법), and the Act On Employment Promotion And Vocational Rehabilitation For Disabled Persons (장애인고용촉진 및 직업재활법) are enforced to enhance the quality of the disabled living.

Achievements
In 1966, the Welfare for the Blind (맹인복지) was first published bi-weekly but ceased to be published in May 1974. After a few years in September 1976, the Biweekly Braille News (점자새소식) has been distributed for free to the blind people across the country.

The Korean Welfare Foundation for the Visually Handicapped publishes and distributes various kinds of braille books to the blind welfare centers across the nation, including Braille Korean-English Dictionary (점자한영사전), Braille Korean Dictionary (점자국어사전). Since 1982, it has lent vice recording books for the blind people who cannot read braille.

Thanks to the advanced Internet technologies, the blind person may have access to recording books via the Internet (디지털음성전자도서관 소리책). Recently audio describers or screen narrators (화면해설사) are popular to the blind because they help the visually handicapped to understand the TV dramas and movies, and even to participate in home shopping.

Books, etc. for the Blind
The Braille Library opened in October 1983, and has secured over 5,000 copies of braille books, and 140 thousand tapes of 516 recording books. It developed the unique braille typewriter called KOMA in 1992, but ceased to produce the model because of the advanced word processors.

For job rehabilitation for the blind, basic training courses in braille reading, walking by oneself, typewriting, etc. are provided to the postnatal blind persons for free, and vocational training courses in piano tuning, etc. as well as welfare factories are operated.

Daily necessities such as which canes, braille boards, etc. are also provided to the blind. On the international side, technical and information exchange and cooperation with other member states of the World Blind Union are on the increase.

Information & Communications Services
The disabled cannot be the outsiders in the Information society. The government has provided:
 * Subsidies for the blind in securing digital devices since 1999
 * Promotional events like the Internet search contest since 2001
 * Recording book libraries since 2004
 * Mobile recording book libraries since 2009.

Great Personalities
Korea is proud of the great achievements of the world-reknowned blind persons as follows:
 * The late Kang Young-Woo (故 강영우 박사, 1944-2012) was a disability rights advocate, author, and speaker. He served as a policy advisor of the National Council on Disability under the Bush Administration in 2002, and Vice Chair of the World Committee on Disability. He was the first visually impaired Korean man to earn a Ph.D. in the United States. His autobiography has been translated into seven languages in addition to film. He encouraged young men to take 3Cs: Competence (실력), Character (인격) and Commitment (헌신).


 * Pastor Kim Sun-Tae (김선태 목사, 1941-present) established Siloam Eye Hospital in 1986 with donations from the Christian society, which has provided the underprivileged with hundreds of thousand eye treatments for free and eye operations for vision rehabilitation. He received the 49th Magsaysay Award for Social Service in 2007. During the Korea War, he lost his sight because of an explosive accident and became helplessly a beggar. With the mental and financial assistance of numerous good neighbors, he has survived lots of difficulties and are ready to help other blind people in physical and financial distress.


 * Jazz harmonist Jeon Je-Duk (전제덕) used to release his performance albums including “Another Story” of hit K-pop songs in 2010. He also holds concerts under the theme - love songs played by harmonica including “Gwanghwamun Love Song” by Lee Moon-sae, “About the Loneliness Called Love” by Yang Hee-eun, and Yoo Jae-ha’s “Gloomy Letter” as well as jazz, Latin, and other classical music. He likes to share his life stories from childhood to the present day with audience. He used to talk about what a hard time he had as a blind child, how he became a musician, and his marriage and son. Before he turned to the harmonica in 2002, he performed the janggu, an hourglass-shaped Korean traditional drum along with the famous Kim Duk-soo samulnori troupe (traditional percussion quartet).


 * Man of the Equator (적도의 남자) in 2012 KBS2 TV drama