II. Respecting the Dignity and Value of Diverse Members of Society 1. Persons with Disabilities A. Human Rights Status 2022 The Act on Welfare of Persons with Disabilities Act defines ‘person with a disability’ as ‘a person whose daily life or social activity is substantially hampered by physical or mental disability over a long period of time.’177) On the other hand, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) states that ‘persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.’ The difference appears because defining ‘disability’ is directly related to each country's subject of the policy or budget, and requires various discussions in terms of social and legal definitions. However, when the UN declared the UN CRPD in 1975, the UN emphasized that persons with disabilities, like persons without disabilities, can enjoy human dignity, value and freedom, and that they have the right to receive the treatment commensurate with them. Since then, the UN has continued the discussions on the human rights of persons with disabilities, including the basic ideologies, definitions and guidelines for establishing related policies, and the UN CRPD was adopted unanimously by 192 countries at the United Nations General Assembly on Dec. 13, 2006. The UN CRPD has become a standard for policies for the persons with disabilities worldwide, and was ratified in Korea in Dec. 2008. At that time, Korea reserved the Optional Protocol, an annexed document of the UN CRPD, but on Dec. 8, 2022, the Optional Protocol to the UN CRPD was ratified by the 177) Article 2(1) & (2) of the ‘Act on Welfare of Persons with Disabilities’ 68