NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF KOREA
Submission to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – July 2022
Article 1-4 Purpose and General Obligations
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Disability classification system and comprehensive service support
survey
□ Current status and problems
ㅇ In July 2019, the government improved the disability classification system by
reducing from 6 grades to 2 grades, and it is gradually introducing comprehensive
service support survey that considers the needs and environment of persons with
disabilities in addition to medical standards in the order of 1st stage of daily life
assistance(July 2019), 2nd stage of mobility assistance(October 2020) and 3rd
stage of income and employment support(to be introduced).
ㅇ However, the concept of disability under the Act on Welfare of Persons with
Disabilities is still based on a medical model, and evaluation items of the
comprehensive service support survey in operation are also biased toward
medical standards and evaluation of functional limitations, and it is evaluated that
it does not contain the fundamental meaning of the reform of the disability
classification system.
ㅇ Evaluation of the comprehensive survey for daily life support services focuses on
functional restrictions, and there are no measures that evaluate various social
functional restrictions by considering differences between types of disabilities.
Accordingly, persons with visual disabilities, persons with psychosocial disabilities
as well as persons with multiple disabilities including those with visual and hearing
disabilities are at a disadvantage in evaluation.1
ㅇ Comprehensive survey for mobile support services is also based on criteria for
determining walking disabilities and persons with multiple disabilities are subject
for additional applications. In addition, with regards to services for income, and
employment support scheduled to be introduced this year, a method that divides
people into medically severe disabilities, general disabilities and non-disabilities
and makes people with general disabilities receive labor capacity evaluation again
from the Korean Employment Agency for Persons with Disabilities is being
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