Fifteen categories, the Welfare of Disabled Persons Act, and the film Bokji Sikdang

Understanding and recognition of disability have evolved with the times. Disability, once perceived mainly as a physical defect, is now seen in a range of categories. The categories of disability defined in this country come to fifteen in all, and they include widely from impairments of external bodily function such as a physical disability, a brain-lesion disability, a visual disability, and a hearing disability, to mental disabilities such as an intellectual disability, a mental disorder, and a developmental disability. This widening of categories, the essay says, is a society approaching disability with a broader view. A change of recognition includes not only a widening of categories but also a turn toward seeing disability as a social problem. Where disability was once regarded as a personal tragedy and individual adaptation was stressed, contemporary society, is considering the rights and welfare of disabled persons at a social level and seeking a remedy. The rising voice of human rights for disabled persons is also part of this change. Human rights are a basic right that every human being should be guaranteed without discrimination — a natural right that should not be discriminated against by differences of race, country, or sex, and should not be infringed at will. Yet infringement by other people has been repeated from earlier times and, changing form, is still present in our society. Choi Jeong-yeol, 2023 master’s thesis, Woosuk University graduate school, “A study on a comparative analysis of disability welfare policy in Korea and China,” is named without adding unfilled findings.

Infringement of human rights can appear in various shapes, and abuse is the most common level, done when the actor does not regard that person as of the same standing. Under the Welfare of Disabled Persons Act, “abuse of a disabled person means physical, mental, verbal, or sexual violence or cruel treatment, economic exploitation, abandonment, or neglect toward a disabled person,” and by the form of the abuse it can be divided into physical and emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and abandonment and neglect. Disabled persons, however, are exposed not only to physical, mental, verbal, and sexual violence but also to various forms of abuse and infringement such as economic exploitation, abandonment, or neglect. This is a serious social problem that the Act also states plainly. Abuse aimed at disabled persons appears not only as an individual problem but also in a social-structural problem. In an economic hierarchy and a capitalist power relation, disabled persons are placed in a more vulnerable position, and various forms of abuse arise from that. To resolve this, a strengthening of social-work policy is needed together with an improvement of recognition. Disabled persons too should be recognized as members of society with rights equal to those of non-disabled persons, and the difficulty they experience should be understood. Next, legal protection should be strengthened, and support should be given so that disabled persons can act in various fields of society without discrimination. Lastly, the accessibility of disability welfare services should be raised, and various programs that can improve the quality of their lives should be developed and provided. The problem of disability, the essay says, is a serious problem that should be approached and resolved at a social level, beyond an individual level. It is a time when a strengthening of social-work policy, an improvement of recognition, and active support are needed. After watching a film that takes a social-work problem as its material, the essay tries to define concretely the social-work problem — disability — in the film and to present a way of resolving it.

The film Bokji Sikdang was made in 2021 and released in April 2022. Jeong Jae-ik directed it on the basis of his own experience of a mid-life disability, co-producing it with Seo Tae-su, and among the principal roles Jo Min-sang appears as Kang Jae-gi, Han Tae-gyeong as Kang Eun-ju, Im Ho-jun as Go Byeong-ho, and Song Min-hyeok as Go Bong-su. The film lights up the serious problem of the social isolation and abuse of disabled persons. Kang Jae-gi has received a grade-5 disability rating and lives a life isolated socially and environmentally. Services or institutional support provided to a person with a mild disability are of no help to him, so his right to move is not guaranteed, and this also brings constraints on his hiring and economic activity. He is in an economic situation in which even raising the cost of an administrative lawsuit to change the disability-grade rating is difficult. To this Kang Jae-gi, Go Byeong-ho proposes various information and support — an administrative lawsuit, a lawyer recommendation, employment, use of a disabled-person call taxi, and the like — and approaches him with a warm heart. Jae-gi, who comes to have hope as he receives help in various areas in the film, gradually becomes careful so as not to go against Byeong-ho’s feelings. Also, in the course of trying to change the disability grade through an administrative lawsuit, the relation with Byeong-ho inevitably has a hierarchy, so he comes to accept even abuse such as Byeong-ho’s orders, verbal abuse, and disregard. This also corresponds to Byeong-ho’s direct use of emotional abuse, and it is also connected with Byeong-ho’s indirect abusive conduct, which uses Jae-gi’s complex psychology according to his social isolation and economic situation, his guilt, and his will that he must stand independently. Byeong-ho made a relation with Jae-gi as a person who could be trusted, a person who would help, but, using the hierarchy that arises in a benevolent relation, he presented the justification of emotional power and of use, and he was also granted it.

Compared with non-disabled persons, disabled persons experience discrimination and exclusion in the employment market as well, and even if they find work they are likely to work in an informal area, so in many cases the labor does not come up to the surface. In a capitalist society a loss or absence of economic power can be directly connected with class in our society. The film reveals how Byeong-ho can use Jae-gi’s complex economic factors, as Jae-gi has difficulty with employment and economic activity, which are central to the quality of a life, because of a disability-grade rating, and it reproduces the process of making a hierarchy and power through a benevolent economic inducement that creates dependence, and through use. The exercise of Byeong-ho’s coercion and threats, arising from a subjection in a hierarchy that uses the disadvantage of a condition in which refusal is difficult, becomes an act of violence and plunder and exerts a forced influence on Jae-gi and Eun-ju. The justification of Byeong-ho’s intervention in Jae-gi begins from an absence of a social safety net. Because Jae-gi received a grade-5 disability rating according to a medical standard, and while he was gradually being shut out of society, Byeong-ho could make him depend on himself, build a hierarchy, and, with a thorough justification, gradually abuse him. In the same context Byeong-ho’s strategic approach could lead to abuse because a social constituent condition was its basis, and together with this, an environmental condition from the objectification of people around Byeong-ho, people who witness violence and abuse, was structured as a cultural background that consolidates a ‘cartel of silence.’ As Kang Jae-gi tries not to betray Go Byeong-ho’s expectations, their relation gradually changes into a hierarchical one. He complies with Go Byeong-ho’s orders and comes to accept emotional abuse and indirect abuse. This abuse is the result of a benevolent relation that Go Byeong-ho made by gaining Kang Jae-gi’s trust and providing him with an economic inducement. In a capitalist society a loss of economic power is directly connected with class, and the film reveals the violence and plunder that Kang Jae-gi and Kang Eun-ju experience in such a relation. Bokji Sikdang shows how the absence of a social safety net pushes disabled persons into a still more vulnerable position, and under what social structure and cultural background the isolation and abuse they experience occur. It critically explores what effect an institutional device such as the disability-grade system has on the lives of disabled persons, and how a social responsibility that should support and protect the individual fails. It carries an important message urging an improvement of recognition of disabled persons and an improvement of a social support system, and it delivers a message not only to disabled persons but to every member of society. Those 2021 and April 2022 dates, and that grade-5 rating, are, without

A 2021 look at the right to move, a plan’s targets, and a social-work way in

The greatest problem of disability that appears in the film is social isolation and abuse. The serious social isolation that disabled persons experience is further worsened in a situation such as an absence of policy and institutions, and a widespread outbreak of disease. This isolation brings constraints on disabled persons’ participating in social activity and having an equal opportunity in hiring and economic activity, and it leads to a situation in which even a basic right to move is not guaranteed. Watching the film, the writer too, the essay says, came to think about the problem of abuse of disabled persons. Abuse appears in various ways, from direct emotional abuse to indirect abuse through an economic inducement, and it continually drives disabled persons into a still more vulnerable situation. This abuse occurs in a relation in which a disabled person in a state of social isolation has no choice but to depend economically and emotionally, and it leads to the exercise of power through a benevolent relation and a hierarchy toward disabled persons.

On the problem of the right of disabled persons to move, according to a 2021 survey, the standard-compliant installation rate of mobility convenience facilities installed on this country’s means of transport and at passenger facilities and in the pedestrian environment — wheelchair lifting equipment, toilets reserved for disabled persons, tactile blocks, and the like — was 77.3%, an improvement of 4.8% compared with 2016. Among these, the installation rate for means of transport was the highest at 79.3%, passenger facilities were 75.1%, and the pedestrian environment was 77.6%. As means of transport mainly used by people with limited mobility, for travel inside a locality buses accounted for a high share at 51.6% and the subway at 14.2%, and for long-distance travel 66.2% preferred a passenger car. Among disabled persons the rate of use of disabled-person taxis and special means of transport appeared high. By contrast, satisfaction with the pedestrian environment was the lowest at 68.2 points, a situation in which improvement is urgent. Compared with other countries, a country such as Germany has pushed a policy so that people with limited mobility can use transport facilities without discrimination, and has concentrated on removing physical barriers such as the introduction of low-floor buses. This country too, through the “Third Plan for Promoting Mobility Convenience for People with Limited Mobility,” set a target of converting 62% of city buses to low-floor buses by 2021, and is planning to invest about 1.2 trillion won by 2026 to expand means of transport that people with limited mobility can use and to improve mobility convenience facilities. The number of people with limited mobility continues to increase, and it is expected to grow to about 16.82 million by 2026. Older people account for the largest share, and the necessity of pushing a mobility-convenience policy is urged. Among the merits of a policy on the right of disabled persons to move are an improvement of accessibility and convenience, but there are still many parts that do not sufficiently meet disabled persons’ needs. A shortage of financial resources is pointed out as a main problem in the establishment and execution of a plan. Guaranteeing the right of disabled persons to move should be approached not as a mere problem of a welfare budget but as a problem of basic human rights, and a resetting of the direction of policy is demanded so that disabled persons, as members of society, can fully enjoy basic rights. Those 2021 survey figures, that 2021 target, and that 2026 plan and expectation are, without

The problem of social isolation and abuse of disabled persons lighted up in the film Bokji Sikdang is also deeply connected with a constraint on the right to move. A reality in which the convenience of movement of disabled persons is low further deepens the isolation they experience, and this is similar in context to the difficulty the protagonist in the film experiences. Even though the installation rate of domestic mobility convenience facilities is gradually improving, the inconvenience that disabled persons experience in daily life is still a large problem. In order to resolve the problem of isolation and abuse that Bokji Sikdang shows through the life of a disabled protagonist, securing the right of disabled persons to move is needed. For this, an improvement of means of transport that considers the accessibility and convenience of movement of disabled persons, and an improvement of satisfaction with the pedestrian environment, are demanded. As a fundamental remedy for promoting the social participation of disabled persons and reducing the isolation and abuse they experience, it is a time when a sustainable push of policy on the promotion of convenience of movement is needed. Seeking a social-work way of intervening in order to secure the right of disabled persons to move, an improvement of the rate of introduction of low-floor buses and an expansion of special means of transport can be an important starting point of change. This becomes a foundation on which disabled persons can participate in society more freely and improve the quality of life. The provisions guaranteeing the right to move that the Act on the Promotion of Mobility Convenience and the Act on the Prohibition of Discrimination against Disabled Persons present can, through practical application, greatly improve the convenience of movement of disabled persons. For this, it is important that, in the course of executing policy, the provisions of these laws can be felt not formally but in substance in the daily lives of disabled persons. This is essential so that disabled persons can use every means of transport with ease. Guaranteeing the right of disabled persons to move means, beyond mere accessibility of means of transport, preparing conditions in which disabled persons are not socially isolated and can meet their own needs.

Letting disabled persons come out into the world, move freely, and take part in various social activities will raise their satisfaction with life and will be able to reduce social prejudice and discrimination. The removal of physical barriers is basic for guaranteeing the right of disabled persons to move, but a change of social recognition of disability, in the way this is looked at, is also needed. Through education and campaigns for an improvement of social recognition, prejudice and discrimination toward disabled persons should be reduced, and an environment in which disabled persons can act in various areas of society should be made. In order to secure the right of disabled persons to move, not only a physical improvement such as the introduction of low-floor buses but also a comprehensive approach that includes legal and institutional support is needed. Under a recognition that the right of disabled persons to move freely in every area of society is directly connected with their pursuit of happiness, a broader and more practical support should be given to disabled persons. The lives and worries of disabled persons that Bokji Sikdang shows provide a reason why our society should come forward more actively in order to secure the right of disabled persons to move. An improvement of social recognition of disabled persons and of the actual support system is essential, but what is the foundation of all of this is securing the right of disabled persons to move. In order to prevent and respond to abuse that uses the vulnerability of disabled persons, above all the right of disabled persons to move independently and freely in their own lives should be guaranteed. When the right to move is guaranteed, disabled persons can take an active part in various areas of society, and this leads to an improvement of the quality of their lives and a reduction of vulnerability to abuse. Strengthening a social safety net is also important, but without a basic right to move that supports it, it is difficult to resolve the isolation and exclusion that disabled persons experience. An improvement of social recognition of the abuse of disabled persons is also important, but the right to move, which is the foundation on which disabled persons can act as socially independent individuals, should be guaranteed first. When the right to move is guaranteed, disabled persons can easily approach various areas of society such as education, work, and leisure, and this will make the social participation and inclusion of disabled persons still more lively. The right to move provides a foundation on which disabled persons can live independently and freely in society, and it is the first step that leads to an improvement of social recognition of disabled persons and to the building of a social safety net. For this reason, guaranteeing the right of disabled persons to move should be the starting point of every effort for the protection of the rights of disabled persons and the promotion of welfare. The same Korean report, at fuller length, is on CampusDown.

Sources

1. Understanding and recognition of disability have evolved with the times. Disability, once perceived mainly as a physical defect, is now seen in a range of categories. The categories of disability defined in this country come to fifteen in all, and they include widely from impairments of external bodily function such as a physical disability, a brain-lesion disability, a visual disability, and a hearing disability, to mental disabilities such as an intellectual disability, a mental disorder, and a developmental disability. This widening of categories is a society approaching disability with a broader view. A change of recognition includes not only a widening of categories but also a turn toward seeing disability as a social problem. Where disability was once regarded as a personal tragedy and individual adaptation was stressed, contemporary society is considering the rights and welfare of disabled persons at a social level and seeking a remedy. The rising voice of human rights for disabled persons is also part of this change. Human rights are a basic right that every human being should be guaranteed without discrimination, a natural right that should not be discriminated against by differences of race, country, or sex, and should not be infringed at will. Yet infringement by other people has been repeated from earlier times and, changing form, is still present in our society. Choi Jeong-yeol. “A study on a comparative analysis of disability welfare policy in Korea and China.” Domestic master’s thesis, Woosuk University graduate school, 2023. Named without adding unfilled findings. Infringement of human rights can appear in various shapes, and abuse is the most common level of human-rights infringement, done when the actor does not regard that person as of the same standing. Under the Welfare of Disabled Persons Act, “abuse of a disabled person means physical, mental, verbal, or sexual violence or cruel treatment, economic exploitation, abandonment, or neglect toward a disabled person,” and by the form of the abuse it can be divided into physical and emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and abandonment and neglect. Disabled persons, however, are exposed not only to physical, mental, verbal, and sexual violence but also to various forms of abuse and infringement such as economic exploitation, abandonment, or neglect. This is a serious social problem that the Welfare of Disabled Persons Act also states plainly. Abuse aimed at disabled persons appears not only as an individual problem but also in a social-structural problem. In an economic hierarchy and a capitalist power relation, disabled persons are placed in a more vulnerable position, and various forms of abuse arise from that. To resolve this problem, a strengthening of social-work policy is needed together with an improvement of recognition of disabled persons. Disabled persons too should be recognized as members of society with rights equal to those of non-disabled persons, and the difficulty they experience should be understood. Next, legal protection for disabled persons should be strengthened, and support should be given so that disabled persons can act in various fields of society without discrimination. Lastly, the accessibility of disability welfare services should be raised, and various programs that can improve the quality of their lives should be developed and provided. The problem of disability can be said to be a serious problem that should be approached and resolved at a social level, beyond an individual level. It is a time when a strengthening of social-work policy, an improvement of recognition, and active support are needed. After watching a film that takes a social-work problem as its material, the social-work problem (disability) in the film is to be defined concretely and a way of resolving it presented. 1. The social-work problem in the film. The film Bokji Sikdang is a film made in 2021 and released in April 2022. This film, which Jeong Jae-ik directed on the basis of his own experience of a mid-life disability, was co-produced with Seo Tae-su, and among the principal roles Jo Min-sang (as Kang Jae-gi), Han Tae-gyeong (as Kang Eun-ju), Im Ho-jun (as Go Byeong-ho), Song Min-hyeok (as Go Bong-su), and others appear. The film lights up the serious problem of the social isolation and abuse of disabled persons. Kang Jae-gi has received a grade-5 disability rating and lives a life isolated socially and environmentally. Services or institutional support provided to a person with a mild disability are of no help to him, so his right to move is not guaranteed, and this also brings constraints on his hiring and economic activity. He is in an economic situation in which even raising the cost of an administrative lawsuit to change the disability-grade rating is difficult. To this Kang Jae-gi, Go Byeong-ho proposes various information and support such as an administrative lawsuit, a lawyer recommendation, employment, and use of a disabled-person call taxi, and approaches him with a warm heart. Jae-gi, who comes to have hope as he receives help in various areas in the film, gradually becomes careful so as not to go against Byeong-ho’s feelings. Also, in the course of trying to change the disability grade through an administrative lawsuit, the relation with Byeong-ho inevitably has a hierarchy, so he comes to accept even abuse such as Byeong-ho’s orders, verbal abuse, and disregard. This also corresponds to Byeong-ho’s direct use of emotional abuse, and it is also connected with Byeong-ho’s indirect abusive conduct, which uses Jae-gi’s complex psychology according to his social isolation and economic situation, his guilt, and his will that he must stand independently. Byeong-ho made a relation with Jae-gi as a person who could be trusted, a person who would help, but, using the hierarchy that arises in a benevolent relation, he presented the justification of emotional power and of use, and he was also granted it. Compared with non-disabled persons, disabled persons experience discrimination and exclusion in the employment market as well, and even if they find work they are likely to work in an informal area, so in many cases the labor does not come up to the surface. In a capitalist society a loss or absence of economic power can be directly connected with class in our society. The film reveals how Byeong-ho can use Jae-gi’s complex economic factors, as Jae-gi has difficulty with employment and economic activity, which are central to the quality of a life, because of a disability-grade rating, and it reproduces the process of making a hierarchy and power through a benevolent economic inducement that creates dependence, and through use. The exercise of Byeong-ho’s coercion and threats, arising from a subjection in a hierarchy that uses the disadvantage of a condition in which refusal is difficult, becomes an act of violence and plunder and exerts a forced influence on Jae-gi and Eun-ju. The justification of Byeong-ho’s intervention in Jae-gi begins from an absence of a social safety net. Because Jae-gi received a grade-5 disability rating according to a medical standard, and while he was gradually being shut out of society, Byeong-ho could make him depend on himself, build a hierarchy, and, with a thorough justification, gradually abuse him. In the same context Byeong-ho’s strategic approach could lead to abuse because a social constituent condition was its basis, and together with this, an environmental condition from the objectification of people around Byeong-ho, people who witness violence and abuse, was structured as a cultural background that consolidates a ‘cartel of silence.’ However, as Kang Jae-gi tries not to betray Go Byeong-ho’s expectations, their relation gradually changes into a hierarchical one. He complies with Go Byeong-ho’s orders and comes to accept emotional abuse and indirect abuse. This abuse is the result of a benevolent relation that Go Byeong-ho made by gaining Kang Jae-gi’s trust and providing him with an economic inducement. In a capitalist society a loss of economic power is directly connected with class, and the film reveals the violence and plunder that Kang Jae-gi and Kang Eun-ju experience in such a relation. Bokji Sikdang shows how the absence of a social safety net pushes disabled persons into a still more vulnerable position, and under what social structure and cultural background the isolation and abuse they experience occur. The film critically explores what effect an institutional device such as the disability-grade system has on the lives of disabled persons, and how a social responsibility that should support and protect the individual fails. Bokji Sikdang carries an important message urging an improvement of recognition of disabled persons and an improvement of a social support system, and it is delivering a message not only to disabled persons but to every member of society. The greatest problem of disability that appeared in the film is social isolation and abuse. The serious social isolation that disabled persons experience is further worsened in a situation such as an absence of policy and institutions, and a widespread outbreak of disease. This isolation brings constraints on disabled persons’ participating in social activity and having an equal opportunity in hiring and economic activity, and it leads to a situation in which even a basic right to move of disabled persons is not guaranteed. So the writer too, watching the film, seems to have come to think about the problem of abuse of disabled persons. Abuse appears in various ways, from direct emotional abuse to indirect abuse through an economic inducement, and it continually drives disabled persons into a still more vulnerable situation. This abuse occurs in a relation in which a disabled person in a state of social isolation has no choice but to depend economically and emotionally, and this leads to the exercise of power through a benevolent relation and a hierarchy toward disabled persons. 2. The problem of the right of disabled persons to move. According to a 2021 survey, the standard-compliant installation rate of mobility convenience facilities installed on this country’s means of transport and at passenger facilities and in the pedestrian environment (wheelchair lifting equipment, toilets reserved for disabled persons, tactile blocks, and the like) was 77.3%, and it appeared to have improved 4.8% compared with 2016. Among these, the installation rate for means of transport was the highest at 79.3%, passenger facilities were 75.1%, and the pedestrian environment was 77.6%. As means of transport mainly used by people with limited mobility, for travel inside a locality buses accounted for a high share at 51.6% and the subway at 14.2%, and for long-distance travel 66.2% preferred a passenger car. Among disabled persons the rate of use of disabled-person taxis and special means of transport appeared high. By contrast, satisfaction with the pedestrian environment was the lowest at 68.2 points, a situation in which improvement is urgent. Compared with other countries, a country such as Germany has pushed a policy so that people with limited mobility can use transport facilities without discrimination, and has concentrated on removing physical barriers such as the introduction of low-floor buses. This country too, through the “Third Plan for Promoting Mobility Convenience for People with Limited Mobility,” set a target of converting 62% of city buses to low-floor buses by 2021, and is planning to invest about 1.2 trillion won by 2026 to expand means of transport that people with limited mobility can use and to improve mobility convenience facilities. The number of people with limited mobility continues to increase, and it is expected to grow to about 16.82 million by 2026. Older people account for the largest share, and the necessity of pushing a mobility-convenience policy is being urged. Among the merits of a policy on the right of disabled persons to move are an improvement of accessibility and convenience, but there are still many parts that do not sufficiently meet disabled persons’ needs. A shortage of financial resources is being pointed out as a main problem in the establishment and execution of a plan. Guaranteeing the right of disabled persons to move should be approached not as a mere problem of a welfare budget but as a problem of basic human rights, and a resetting of the direction of policy is being demanded so that disabled persons, as members of society, can fully enjoy basic rights. The problem of social isolation and abuse of disabled persons lighted up in the film Bokji Sikdang is also deeply connected with a constraint on the right to move. A reality in which the convenience of movement of disabled persons is low further deepens the isolation they experience, and this is similar in context to the difficulty the protagonist in the film experiences. Even though the installation rate of domestic mobility convenience facilities is gradually improving, the inconvenience that disabled persons experience in daily life is still a large problem. In order to resolve the problem of isolation and abuse that Bokji Sikdang shows through the life of a disabled protagonist, securing the right of disabled persons to move is needed. For this, an improvement of means of transport that considers the accessibility and convenience of movement of disabled persons, and an improvement of satisfaction with the pedestrian environment, are demanded. As a fundamental remedy for promoting the social participation of disabled persons and reducing the isolation and abuse they experience, it is a time when a sustainable push of policy on the promotion of convenience of movement is needed. 3. A way of raising a social-work method of intervention. Seeking a social-work way of intervening in order to secure the right of disabled persons to move, an improvement of the rate of introduction of low-floor buses and an expansion of special means of transport can be an important starting point of change. This becomes a foundation on which disabled persons can participate in society more freely and improve the quality of life. The provisions guaranteeing the right to move that the Act on the Promotion of Mobility Convenience and the Act on the Prohibition of Discrimination against Disabled Persons present can, through practical application, greatly improve the convenience of movement of disabled persons. For this, it is important that, in the course of executing policy, the provisions of these laws can be felt not formally but in substance in the daily lives of disabled persons. This is essential in letting disabled persons use every means of transport with ease. Guaranteeing the right of disabled persons to move means, beyond mere accessibility of means of transport, preparing conditions in which disabled persons are not socially isolated and can meet their own needs. Letting disabled persons come out into the world, move freely, and take part in various social activities will raise their satisfaction with life and will be able to reduce social prejudice and discrimination. The removal of physical barriers is basic for guaranteeing the right of disabled persons to move, but a change of social recognition of disability, in the way this is looked at, is also needed. Through education and campaigns for an improvement of social recognition, prejudice and discrimination toward disabled persons should be reduced, and an environment in which disabled persons can act in various areas of society should be made. In order to secure the right of disabled persons to move, not only a physical improvement such as the introduction of low-floor buses but also a comprehensive approach that includes legal and institutional support is needed. Under a recognition that the right of disabled persons to move freely in every area of society is directly connected with their pursuit of happiness, a broader and more practical support should be given to disabled persons. The lives and worries of disabled persons that Bokji Sikdang shows provide a reason why our society should come forward more actively in order to secure the right of disabled persons to move. 4. Implications. An improvement of social recognition of disabled persons and of the actual support system is essential, but what is the foundation of all of this is securing the right of disabled persons to move. In order to prevent and respond to abuse that uses the vulnerability of disabled persons, above all the right of disabled persons to move independently and freely in their own lives should be guaranteed. When the right to move is guaranteed, disabled persons can take an active part in various areas of society, and this leads to an improvement of the quality of their lives and a reduction of vulnerability to abuse. Strengthening a social safety net is also important, but without a basic right to move that supports it, it is difficult to resolve the isolation and exclusion that disabled persons experience. An improvement of social recognition of the abuse of disabled persons is also important, but the right to move, which is the foundation on which disabled persons can act as socially independent individuals, should be guaranteed first. When the right to move is guaranteed, disabled persons can easily approach various areas of society such as education, work, and leisure, and this will make the social participation and inclusion of disabled persons still more lively possible. The right to move provides a foundation on which disabled persons can live independently and freely in society, and it is the first step that leads to an improvement of social recognition of disabled persons and to the building of a social safety net. For this reason, guaranteeing the right of disabled persons to move should be the starting point of every effort for the protection of the rights of disabled persons and the promotion of welfare.

Last updated: 14 November 2026