48. My 2nd Trip to Korea

Approximately two years later, I won the first place in non-fiction category of the contest sponsored by Overseas Koreans Foundation and went to Korea again. The foundation paid for three days stay for the conference at Amiga Hotel in Kang Nam. I went there two days before the conference on my own. It was a luxurious hotel, but they did not have a single handicapped room.

 

They placed the wood prank on the entrance of the bathroom. There was a step on the bathroom entrance. The step had no functional needs. You stepped up and down to enter the room. Many building entrances had these unnecessary steps. I heard that the building designer just added these steps for the look without much thoughts. 

 

I was going to stay few more days after the foundation’s conference. Bang introduced me to an organization which had a room for the disabled. To save some money, I decided to move after the conference. It was a room on top of the small office building where the organization had the office. There would be no one around once the employees went home. Bathroom was poorly designed and I did not think I would be able to use it. I was scheduled have a roundtable meeting with the staff. After the meeting, I had a lunch with them. I thanked them for their hospitability and returned to the hotel. 

 

They told me Korean disabled who came from the provinces would stay there and were very happy. I felt sorry that I declined their offer. Maybe, I was spoiled in America where the reasonable accommodation was widely available. I felt that the welfare of Korean disabled still had a long way to go.

 

Eun Kyung came to see me. She brought her friend who was well built and looked to be strong. We went to one of the palaces in Seoul, Biwon. Two women had no problem pushing my wheelchair around the mild slopes. Suddenly, we faced a pretty steep hill. We saw two young men, public service agents, in military uniforms. We asked them to help us. They told us they could not leave their post. Leaving the post? It was just 20-30 meters. I found a group of American youth walking by. I asked them if they could help and they gladly pushed me to the exit. 

 

To eat lunch, an employee of the restaurant carried me on his back. Before dinner, I had to urinate into an empty beer bottle in front of the bathroom. They did not have the accessible bathroom. 

 

Korea had totally different concept of welfare for the disabled. They saw the disabled person as someone the society had to take care of, a burden. They made separate bathrooms and elevators for the disabled. They gave money to the employers who hired the disabled. Nevertheless, people demonstrated against the facilities being built in their neighborhood. It would bring their property value down. 

 

In America, there are no special elevator and/or bathroom for the disabled. Disability sign simply means it could be used by the disabled. Everyone, disabled or able body, can use it. The law protects and guarantees equal opportunities for the disabled in housing, education, employment, and etc. 

 

One of the best things I found in America was that no one paid any special attention to me. In Korea, I felt everyone was looking at me when I went out. Their look was asking me what I, a man on a wheelchair, was doing out there.