The blurred world, ‘Light of Love’ is needed.
Only 2,310 reading magnifiers are given out in the past seven years for a population of 57,000 with low vision. Severe shortage of special education teachers but no training programs are available.
“I can’t read small letters, and buildings only look blurry. When it comes to people, I make out by colors of their clothes and hairstyle. So when my friends show up in a new outfit or change their hairdo, I don’t recognize them.”
A 21-year young woman from Gyeongsan, Gyeongbuk, Yim Meejin was born with poor eye sight. Because her eyes are so sensitive to light, she can’t even go out and walk freely on the streets. She finds it most frustrating when she has to study. It takes a long time for her to finish one sentence even with her book up close right in front of her eye. She was diagnosed with level 1 visual impairment. “It has to take me one whole day to study the same amount that my friends can cover in an hour. I cried a lot thinking getting into college would be impossible for me no matter how hard I try.” She had applied for a magnifier sponsored by the government but it didn’t help much.
Symptoms of low vision vary widely. Objects could appear tilted for some people while others can secure their vision only through a hole the size of a fist. A simple magnifier that enlarges objects does not work. A government subsidy program paid for 80% of the cost of a portable reading magnifier for Meejin, but it only rendered three letters at a time on a mobile-phone sized screen and turned out to be even ineffective and inconvenient.
She had tried a reading device that converts texts on a computer monitor into voice but it didn’t turn out to be very effective since she could retain only so little information from listening. “A desktop reading magnifier can hold up to two thirds of a book and allows adjustment of font size and background color. It is the most useful device for people with low vision but the high price of three to four million won had made it unpopular among donors, be it the government or corporate sponsors.
Korea is Far behind with Support for Children with Low Vision
Children with low vision under 18 number 112,253 (2010, Statistics Korea), and the number is increasing with 75 to 80 percent of visually impaired children aged from 6 to 12. Complete blindness, which can’t even sense dim light, used to be the majority of visual impairment but now it is only fifteen percent of total of the visually impaired, thanks to the availability of surgery that help children with risk for complete blindness improves to the level of low vision. However, the government support for those with low vision has been minimal. The National Information Society Agency, which accounts for more than 90 percent of government’s device support for people with disability, gave out 2,310 reading magnifiers to those with low vision in the seven years’ time; it’s a number far short of 57,000, the number of people with low vision in Korea. The small number of handouts gives priority to visually impaired level 1, those on welfare by absolute poverty, and the employed, leaving low-vision children in the dead-zone without help. Each year the National Information Society Agency gives out only about 90 desktop reading magnifiers.
Furthermore, no special education teachers are trained specifically to educate students with low vision. Most of the curriculum in special education is tailored for those complete blinds, and there is no available teaching methodology that is specifically appropriate for students of low vision. Mee Youngsoon, president of the National Association for People with Low Vision, said, “We tried to offer training programs for working with low-vision students for both regular and special school teachers but no one signed up. If students have poor eye sight, it’s important that he or she goes through special programs to awaken and develop their olfactory, hearing and taste senses, but most parents seem to be only interested in programs that are only designed only for getting into college.”
A Tailored Education Program Opened a Student’s Vision
Kim Minwoo, a 14-year old from Mirayng, Gyeongnam, is overcoming his low vision through specialized education with special attention by his teachers and parents. A special education teacher at Miryang Middle School, Lee Sangmok, 30, researched about low vision to help Minwoo and made inquiries to see if he can be eligible for a reading magnifier subsidy. Level 3 visually impaired, Min-woo can make out object shapes with his right eye, and his left eye’s corrected vision is no better than 0.1. “I heard about Heart to Heart Foundation giving out reading magnifiers and put together 10 types of documents to apply for Minwoo,” said Lee. “I thought he wasn’t going to make it since he’s not level 1 nor does his family fall under the potential welfare recipient criteria. When we got the call that he will get one, we went through the roof.” Minwoo, the actual beneficiary, couldn’t hold down his excitement and said, “As soon as I get my reading magnifier, I want to read a social science book with maps in it.”
Since Minwoo was a toddler, his parents gave him exercises that would awaken and intensify his sense of touch. His father would often take him hiking to the mountain and cut out bamboo branches and made instruments and arrows. The father also taught his young son how to fish. Minwoo can easily catch two snakehead mullets of one-meter size when he goes fishing. His mother exposed him to various hands-on experience programs rather than pressing him to engage in traditional study methods. Thanks to the development of his senses in natural settings, despite his visual impairment Minwoo deftly whips up crafts with any given materials. “The general public’s understanding of low-vision symptoms is very minimal, but there are a lot of children needing support for their low vision like my son,” said the mother. “I hope to see more supports become available for children with low vision.”
There are more than 3,000 low vision clinics in the U.S., whereas there are only about ten in Korea, counting university hospitals. Rehabilitation services for low vision are commonly available in countries like Japan and the U.K., where children with low vision have been enjoying access to special reading corners in libraries for people with reading disability since the 1970s. Lighthouse International in New York not only offers educational programs for children with low vision but they make and distribute various living items customized for low-vision children, such as cutting boards with different colors on each side. “Small, unnoticed differences can make a big difference in children’s dream, “ said Yim Mira, social worker at Heart to Heart Foundation, “We gave out 260 reading magnifiers in the past three years and we will continue to provide more support for low-vision children that are in the welfare dead-zone.”
