Special Delegation for the Paris Paralympics

We are traveling to Paris, through Oslo and Berlin, to expose the oppression and violation of disability rights in South Korea and to carry out direct actions for civil right restoration of disabled people.

  We are the "Special Delegation for the Paris Paralympics" from South Korea. We are traveling to Paris, through Oslo and Berlin, to expose the oppression and violation of disability rights in South Korea and to carry out direct actions for civil right restoration of disabled people.

In South Korea, only 1 out of 10 buses are accessible for wheelchair users. Over 30,000 people with developmental disabilities still live in residential institutions. Not a single disabled person in South Korea receives 24-hour personal assistance services funded by the central government.

Furthermore, South Korea segregates disabled and non-disabled people. Only those who are officially registered and licensed as disabled can apply for support services. The government shifts the responsibility of disability onto individuals, applies narrow medical criteria to define disability, and justifies discrimination against disabled people. Most notably, the budget allocated by the South Korean government for disability-related expenses is only one-third of the OECD average.

 Please stand in solidarity with our fight against discrimination! Join us in this struggle!

We denounce Oh Se-hoon,  the Mayor of Seoul, for his exploitation of disabled people's rights! Join us in this fight!

  Oh Se-hoon is the Mayor of Seoul, the capital of South Korea. He is currently denying disabled people the right to live in their communities in Korea. Oh is mobilizing transit workers daily to forcibly and violently remove disabled people from subway stations as they protest for their right to move freely, receive an education, work, and live together in society. During these confrontations, disabled activists are often injured, and their wheelchairs are repeatedly damaged.

  Additionally, Oh has fired 400 workers with severe disabilities. These workers were engaged in campaigns to eliminate discrimination against disabled people in their communities. However, Oh dismissed them all at once, citing their criticism of the government as the reason. Furthermore, Oh claims that disabled people lack the "ability" to live within the community and that it is more appropriate and economically beneficial for them to live in institutions.

Beyond Discrimination

    In the early 2000s, SADD played a crucial role in the history of the disability liberation movement, where they occupied buses and subways to demand the right for disabled people to move freely and live together in society without separation. They even crawled across the Han River Bridge to push for the institutionalization of the Personal Assistance System. To this day, SADD continues to fiercely fight for the rights to mobility, labor, independent living, and de-institutionalization for disabled people.

  Basic human dignity is non-negotiable, and therefore, we will not compromise in our demands and actions for justice. Please be allies in the Korean disability movement as we continue to fight for disability rights. Thank you.

About

Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination (SADD) works for disability liberation. 

Our goal is to end the discrimination and exclusion of people with disabilities.

SADD believes that a person shouldn’t be judged by one’s productivity or efficiency.  We fight for a society that respects diversity, not conformity. We fight for a society that centers and values people, not profit. 

SADD remembers and honors the people who made the history of disability rights struggle. Our movement has many martyrs who led the fierce struggle against the society that made them poor, voiceless, and invisible. When they were demanding the basic rights to mobility, education, labor, and autonomy, they were fighting against the very real violence in their own lives. The lives and the spirits of the martyrs are still present in our continuous struggle. 

Our solidarity extends to everyone who fights to end the injustices of this world. The ableism in our society is deeply connected to the structural oppressions which feminist, labor, environmental, anti-war movements are fighting against. SADD stands in solidarity with all those who dream of a better world where everyone is given the freedom, dignity, and security we all deserve. 

History

It wasn't until the 1988 Seoul Olympics that a progressive disability movement began to emerge in South Korea. Prior to that, in 1984, a man with an intellectual disability committed suicide, leaving a note asking for accessible sidewalk for wheelchair users in Seoul. This was the beginning of the accessibility movement in Korea, but even after decades, lots of roads in Seoul remain inaccessible.

In 2001, a wheelchair user fell to his death while taking a lift at a subway station near Seoul. The lift was unsafe, without any shock absorber installed in case of an accident, and it was in poor shape due to the lack of any maintenance standards. 

Similar tragedies were repeated, but no one was held accountable. People with disabilities were outraged and took to the streets. The Solidarity Committee of the Disabled to Obtain the Mobility Right (SDOMOR) chained themselves to the subway tracks in protest. They demanded the government to guarantee the mobility rights of people with disabilities. They blocked buses in the streets and climbed on top of them. The protests weren’t short-term, and they birthed an organized disability rights movement in Korea. What SDOMOR achieved through their protests brought meaningful changes in Korea for the people with disabilities; the first wheelchair-accessible buses and taxis were introduced. 

The next chapter of the disability rights movement was focused on introducing the Personal Assistance Services (PAS) for the people with disabilities. The Korean government opposed the establishment of the PAS for financial reasons. SDOMOR crawled across the Han River Bridge as a protest because the PAS is crucial for independence and survival for the persons with disabilities.

The activists have resisted the society’s patronizing gaze at the disabled people, filled with pity and sympathy. The disability rights movement has shown the world that people with disabilities are political beings with civil rights, one’s own agency, and dignity. 

In 2007, SADD, a coalition of progressive disability movements, was formed. 

SADD aims to abolish the three oppressive institutions against the poor and the disabled: the disability rating system, the family support obligation rules, and the institutionalization of the disabled. SADD takes non-violent direct actions and demands legislation of laws including, but not limited to, ‘Act on Guarantee of Rights for Persons with Disabilities’. SADD works to further the disabled people’s rights to mobility, labor, and independent living.