[With Corona, With Jang-aein] The No-Exit Life of People with Multiple Disabilities

<strong>'Dignity'-less Severely Disabled Person

Seong-gu, Living in Independent Living Housing
Infected with COVID-19 and Recovered
Poor Measures for Severely Disabled
Only 10 Hours of Daily Activity Support Service
Far from Enough to Maintain a Humane Life

Mr. Park Seong-gu (alias), a person with severe disabilities living in an independent living house. Photo by Cha Hyunjin, intern reporter

"I want to travel."

Park Seong-gu (55, pseudonym), who was usually quiet, became talkative when the word ‘travel’ came up. He has lived with a brain lesion disability for 55 years. Seong-gu, who was born with a congenital disability, has lower judgment skills compared to his peers. He uses an electric wheelchair due to leg difficulties and has a speech impairment, so he cannot live without a personal care assistant. Nevertheless, he liked ‘travel,’ which was difficult for him in many ways.

"I’m going to Sejong."

Seong-gu considers attending rallies held in front of the Government Complex Sejong as travel. A personal care assistant, Ms. A, who has been with Seong-gu for a long time, said, "The brief ‘travel’ to attend rallies is what Seong-gu likes the most," adding, "He couldn’t travel because of COVID-19, but he plans to go soon."

Seong-gu resents COVID-19. He had to wear a mask without understanding why, and the travel he loved was taken away. Going out became difficult. He tried to satisfy his desires through ‘eating,’ which damaged his health. He developed severe esophagitis and started taking additional stomach medicine.

Then COVID-19 struck. On July 11, a personal care assistant, Mr. B, who provides support services to Seong-gu at the Nodul Center for Independent Living for Persons with Disabilities’ independent living housing, tested positive for COVID-19. On the 12th, three residents, including Seong-gu, were confirmed positive.

Seonggu is getting off a low-floor bus with the help of a personal care assistant.
Photo by Cha Hyunjin, intern reporter

Mr. Baek (55), a personal care assistant who has been with Seong-gu, volunteered to move into the shared housing despite the risk of infection. A total of six people, including Seong-gu and Mr. Baek, began self-quarantine in a shared house consisting of three rooms, two bathrooms, and one kitchen. The government’s self-quarantine guidelines allowed for a maximum of two people. In principle, only one resident and one personal care assistant could be accommodated. The epidemiologist from the public health center also told personal care assistant Ms. A, who was quarantining with them, "You cannot self-quarantine like that in a shared house." He said, "There is no capacity to provide space." There was no consideration from the quarantine authorities regarding the physical characteristics of persons with disabilities and the need for activity assistance.

Although Seong-gu has recovered, he remains exposed to infection risks. The only person who can substitute for Seong-gu’s hands is personal care assistant Mr. Baek. If either of them becomes infected, the infectious disease will spread to the disability support center. The government’s ‘cohort isolation’ continued, and cluster infections became inevitable. The phased recovery of daily life (With COVID) means living with infectious diseases. For persons with disabilities, whose daily lives are difficult and who are vulnerable to infection, they cannot go together nor should they go.

‘Deinstitutionalization’ to escape infection-vulnerable facilities is essential, but the government, quarantine authorities, and local governments do not reach out. Seong-gu finished 40 years of living in a facility and has now started to live independently. However, personal care services are limited to 300 hours per month, about 10 hours per day. It takes six hours just to eat three meals a day. Personal care assistant Ms. A said, "The hours of personal care services provided are far too insufficient for persons with disabilities to maintain a dignified life as human beings."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.