By Kim Sung-tae, director of the Songpa-gu Vocational Rehabilitation Center for the Disabled and Myeongsuk Wind, activist with the Human Rights Movement Network
According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, vocational rehabilitation facilities for the disabled are ‘social welfare facilities operated in accordance with the Disability Welfare Act to provide employment opportunities for people with disabilities who have low vocational skills or who are unable to work due to social constraints.
As of the end of 2022, 92.4% of people with disabilities using vocational rehabilitation facilities are severely disabled, and more than 80% are developmentally disabled. According to Article 7 of the Minimum Wage Act, those with significantly lower work capabilities can apply for authorization to be excluded from the minimum wage, and according to a survey conducted by the Seoul Association of Vocational Rehabilitation Facilities for the Disabled in 2021, the proportion of people with disabilities excluded from the minimum wage as of 2020 was 66%, and more than 89% of them were working in sheltered workshops.
Vocational rehabilitation facilities for the disabled have become a very important employment policy in terms of helping people with severe disabilities secure income and transition to competitive employment, but the damage is being passed on to workers with severe disabilities due to the dual status of being required to balance profit and welfare.
Therefore, <Walking Together> aims to provide readers with a place to think about the scattered issues related to the identity of vocational rehabilitation facilities through the contributions of Kim Sung-tae, director of the Songpa-gu Vocational Rehabilitation Center for the Disabled, and Myeong-sook Wind, an activist with the Human Rights Movement Network.
*Please note this is a Korean article
Copyright by 함께걸음 (http://news.cowalk.or.kr) All Rights Reserved.
