Resolution remains elusive for Seoul's disabled accessibility issues

Park Kyung-seok, co-executive director of Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination, gets his breath back before speaking at a subway station in Seoul, Jan. 2, as a group of people with disabilities stages a rally to call for the government to increase funding to protect their rights to mobility. Yonhap

By Scott Shepherd

Following some 75 protests on Seoul's subway network since December 2021, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon declared a zero-tolerance approach in the last week of 2022.

And sure enough, 2023 began with The Korea Times reporting that police were referring 24 protesters to the prosecution: criminal charges were to be pressed. At the same time came news that metro workers had physically blocked the activists from boarding a train and that up to 640 riot police had been deployed to stop protesters from accessing stations. Then on Friday, Seoul Metro filed a suit against the group organizing the protests, seeking over 600 million won ($483,792) in compensation for the delays and disruptions.

Obviously, Seoul's geography contributes to difficulties for wheelchair users. The mountains and hills that loom throughout this metropolis make wheelchair use harder than it would be on flat ground. Stairs and steep slopes lead up the sides of hills in older regions of the city, meaning that some whole neighborhoods are simply inaccessible, and that's without even considering the roads with no pavements where pedestrians have to cling, praying, to the edge of the street as cars and motorbikes whizz past.

While laws do require buildings to make accommodations for wheelchair users, smaller buildings are exempt. And some well-meaning attempts to improve accessibility simply don't work. The Korea Herald reported in 2018 that "a disabled man was killed in a stair lift accident" in a Seoul subway station the previous year, and even worse, that at least "four people with disabilities have been killed" in similar accidents since 2001.

Yet, despite this terrible record, it is true that many subway stations are accessible to wheelchair-users. Some delayed commuters may well take umbrage that protests have taken place in Seoul's subway stations at all, given that the city's sprawling metro system is more wheelchair-friendly than some of its older counterparts in other large cities around the world.

On the surface, it's possible to understand the reaction of those commuters expressing anger. They see the protests as unnecessary and disruptive. If everyone with a grievance in Korea protested by targeting the subway lines, the argument goes, no one would ever get to work. After all, almost all of Seoul's stations contain elevators, and the best examples contain all kinds of ingenious features to assist wheelchair users and visually-impaired commuters. It does appear that, while far from perfect, the transportation bosses are trying to make the system accessible.

The anger of some commuters is not, I believe, rooted in malice. Running late for an important event can turn the best of us into quivering balls of rage. Rather, some of the anger seems to be based on misperceptions about what it means to have a disability, specifically the misplaced assumption that all of those with disabilities are quiet saints who deserve sympathy but don't merit the same respect as everyone else. These protests shatter that false image. The protesters are demanding their rights, loudly disrupting the system rather than meekly accepting what they're given.

YouTuber OneshotHansol chronicles his experience living as a blind man in Korea. He is an amiable young man who is clearly suited to his role as a YouTuber. In some videos he collaborates with a wheelchair user as they venture around Seoul, trying to get on buses or go into cafes. The channel is entertaining and educational, and it also acts as a powerful protest in its own, gentle way. It is, perhaps, a more effective and certainly a more charming way to fight for accessibility on public transport than the recent subway protests.

His videos also make it abundantly clear that the city's buses are far worse for wheelchair users than the subway is. What's so galling is that the technology and systems are already in place. Surely national and local governments can tighten regulations to train or retrain drivers and to require all new buses to be wheelchair-friendly. The only reason not to do so is that the politicians are placing efficiency and finances above citizens' welfare. A society that is so ultra-capitalist that it prizes money over people is not a society we want to live in.

In any case, the decision to arrest disability rights protesters in central Seoul was an outrage. It reveals a complete lack of empathy and an inability to understand why the protesters were there in the first place. It is all the more egregious in light of the fact that only last month the mayor rejected a court-mediated settlement which would have effectively brought an end to the protests.

The arrests are also likely to be an own-goal. If there's one sure way to turn public opinion against a politician, it's picking a fight with people demanding rights for people with disabilities. The mayor is simply turning them into martyrs. Rather than silencing them, this will surely trigger more people to protest, more people to demand full accessibility to public transport.

With some attention and effort, the city's subways ― already efficient, well organized and mostly accessible ― could become the envy of the world. Even after that, wider problems will of course exist. We can't suddenly flatten all the mountains or destroy all of the old, inaccessible buildings. Still, stricter building laws can be passed, and all new buses should be wheelchair-accessible as a priority. It is possible to bring about change, as Korea's rapid development has made abundantly plain. And whether through smiling YouTubers or shouting protesters, Korea's population with disabilities and their supporters are bringing it about. More power to them, I say.

Dr. Scott Shepherd (scottshepherd@chongshin.ac.kr) is a British-American academic. He has taught in universities in the U.K. and Korea, and is currently an assistant professor of English at Chongshin University in Seoul. The views expressed in the article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.