With the spread of the ideas of equality under democracy, the state in the twenty first century ever more faces the responsibility of resolving the problems of discrimination potentially existing in society. In case of the socially weak, such as the d...
With the spread of the ideas of equality under democracy, the state in the twenty first century ever more faces the responsibility of resolving the problems of discrimination potentially existing in society. In case of the socially weak, such as the disabled, who might be lacking in practical conditions for exercising freedom of action, the state must form and sustain the conditions needed for performing such rights. Therefore, the theme of disability must be discussed not just from the perspective of welfare policy but on the framework of the constitutional guarantee of fundamental human rights.
On the dimension of constitutional guarantees of basic rights for the handicapped, the important constitutional principle is the guarantee of human dignity and worth, and the right to pursue happiness. Article 10 of the Constitution of Republic of Korea clarifies this, and its paragraph 2 obligates the state to guarantee the basic rights. Relying on these declarations as "basic philosophy", subordinate laws are to put into practice the constitutional ideas. For example, in article 3 of [the law on facilitation of convenience for the transportation poor] it is specified that the transportation poor, including the handicapped, has the right of using transportation facilities to move on the basis of the constitutional guarantee of human dignity and worth, and the right to pursue happiness. Once and again, this law provides that the right to move is based on the human dignity clause. Therefore, the state policy for the basic rights for the people with disabilities must be activated to the direction of realizing the "unrealized rights".
Another constitutional principle for guarantying the basic rights for the disabled is social integration by facilitating social participation. The traditional explanation of equal right was that "the same should be treated as same, the different should be treated as different." However, for the basic rights of the handicapped it must be interpreted as "the equality of results". Allowing reasonable discrimination for disability, the state seeks to provide practical guarantee that endorses appropriate measures of realizing equality. Compulsory employment of the handicapped and an massagist license exclusive to the blind could be good examples. There are of course critics due to the possibility of reverse discrimination. However, such measures will be legally justified when they relieve the imbalance between the handicapped and non-handicapped, established as temporary measures, and if the restriction against the non-handicapped is acceptable. Relatedly, laws have been enacted for "the social integration by promoting social participation of the hadicapped. In addition, the law that prohibits disability discrimination and their rights remedies" is enacted and is already in force for protecting the basic rights for people with disabilities. Prohibiting discrimination against the people with disabilities in all areas of life and at the same time remedying their right, this law aims to improve social participation of the handicapped and to put into practice the human dignity and worth through realizing equal rights. According to this law the rights such as "the right to be educated", "the right to vote", "the right to work" and "the right to enjoy legal services" will be also realized. In fact, laws concerning the basic right of the disabled do exist, but these laws have so far not been so effective because of the lack of the rules of punishment as well as the vagueness in defining disability discrimination. Furthermore, according to the interpretation of article 34 (5) of the constitution, rather than extending to include all kinds of handicapped personnel, the clause applies just to those without daily living ability. The Disability Discrimination Act is made on the reason of this lack and so it should be regarded as the framework for other laws which have similar purposes.
Finally, this study discusses the special characteristics of the basic rights of disability. Disability rights can not be guaranteed in the same way as non-disability. The right of access to information, for example, does not mean the same for the non-handicapped and for the handicapped(especially the blind) both sitting in front of the computer. In case of the blind person, the computer must have a voice assistant system for enabling him or her to access information. This means that the ideas of basic rights cannot be realized for the handicapped as long as such difference is not taken into consideration in policy implementation. Therefore, practical legislation for the persons with disability is needed to guarantee their basic rights.