Disability Deinstitutionalization Debate in Seoul: Calls for Support Clash Ahead of Disability Day

◀ Anchor ▶

When disabled people leave facilities and live outside, they call it ‘deinstitutionalisation’, right?

Disabled organizations are asking for support for deinstitutionalization, saying, “Don’t send disabled people to facilities,” and Seoul City is also implementing an ordinance to support them to be independent.

However, groups for disabled parents are calling for the order to be scrapped, saying they need professional care.

Ahead of the 44th Disability Day tomorrow, both sides held rallies.

Reporter Kim Ji-seong covered the story.

◀ Statement ▶

Disabled people’s groups claim that ‘disabled people should not be limited in resources’ and that disabled people should be able to live together in the community if they wish.

This is the so-called escape facility.

[박경인]

“I lived from the age of 0 to 24. Taking care of my younger siblings, taking care of my older siblings, and watching the teachers, I think that that’s the most uncomfortable part.”

They say the choice about demobilization and afterlife should be given to the disabled person, not their carer or the government.

[이수미]

“After I moved out of the facility, I started working. I passed the qualifying exam and graduated from college. It’s difficult when there are all these processes in a facility.”

In response to this argument, the Seoul City Council created an ordinance to support deinstitutionalization in 2022.

This is the basis for systems and budget support to help disabled people who are released from facilities to settle into local communities.

However, many parents who leave their children with disabilities in facilities are against this order.

There is concern that support for de-installation will ultimately lead to a reduction in existing resources or the elimination of support for people with disabilities.

Professional care is the best resource for disabled people and their families.

[이우열/장애인 부모]

“Because there are nurses, physical therapists, and teachers‥″

[김현아/장애인 부모]

“There are many cases where disabled parents suffer from diseases because they have to provide 24-hour care. As my child runs away from place to place, I tie him with a leash and walk around with him.”

In the end, when the facility disappears, care will fall on the family, but they say that will become impossible as children and parents get older.

[이우열/장애인 부모]

“If I kiss, I can’t clean it. It’s getting harder now that I’m getting older, and what will happen to him when I’m gone…”

A day before the Day of People with Disabilities, the two arguments for dismantling or not clashed over the road before the Seoul City Council.

When the residents’ petition to cancel the support order for de-establishment was submitted to the city council with the approval requirement of 25,000 people, as stated by the parents group, groups of disabled people and groups of disabled parents held a rally .

Disability groups are also calling for legislation to support de-installation in the next National Assembly, so the dispute is expected to grow further.

This is Ji-seong Kim from MBC News.

Video broadcast by Ji-eun Han and In-je Jeon / Video editing by Jun-hyuk Ahn