Stigma and Standards: Disabilities and the Korean Education System

Photo Courtesy of Photo Courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/hyku/134965787/ Korean schools have been slow to adapt to disabled students.

Korean society has largely stigmatized people with physical disabilities, so handicapped people consequently have tended to shy away from the public's attention. This trend is especially visible in schools. In the words of Hyun Jin Kim, an established researcher on special education in Korea, "it has become a norm to place disabled children in separate institutions than in regular schools with other non-disabled children." Several barriers need to be overcome to achieve successful integration of physically disabled children into regular schools, but the biggest obstacle facing the students and their families is the social atmosphere of prejudice.

The challenges that students with physical disabilities face in going to school are not a recent phenomenon. For instance, newspaper articles from the 1960s show that even a student whose family members were found to be ill was shunned in the classroom, to the extent that the schools had to force the student to leave because of pressure from other parents. Many shamanistic Koreans in history considered physical handicap a punishment for past sins or an ominous sign that had to be avoided. Even today, when Koreans are significantly better informed about the causes of physical conditions, parents have expressed concern about their children having disabled classmates, making integration a sensitive issue.

Therefore, physically handicapped students have been compelled to resort to special institutions. According to Kim's findings, in 2002, there were 136 schools for the handicapped, five more were established by 2004. These numbers include separate schools for students with visual, hearing, physical impairments or intellectual disabilities. In addition, more than 13,000 students were delaying their schooling and staying either at home or at hospitals. Specialized institutions can provide tailored services and facilities and prevent their students from being confronted with discrimination within school walls. However, they further exacerbate the social perception of physically disabled children as being 'different' and create psychological blockades not only for society in general but also for the students themselves who begin to see themselves as outsiders.

The Korean government has stepped up efforts to address this problem over the past decade. In 1994, it established the National Special Education Institute with the objective of providing special education programs and training for teachers. It has also built support systems structured around local communities, in addition to requiring teachers at regular schools to take 60 hours of special education training as part of the long-term integration process. Thus far, the government has recognized that successful integration of physically disabled students into regular schools entails new counseling and support services, the adjustment of facilities and equipment, and improved curricula and teaching materials. But the principal tasks are to bring down the dividing bias in the minds of students and parents alike and to instill a sense of shared responsibility.

Korean society needs to become more aware of and open towards diversity that exists within its population. The public must understand that people with disabilities are different only in their special physical needs, and are capable of contributing just as much to a thriving educational environment. Only when Korean society overcomes its prejudice about students with physical handicaps can successful integration of these students into regular classrooms occur, and only then can they go on to become respected and productive members of society.