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People were moved after hearing about the first lecture of the semester by Seoul National University professor Lee Sang-mook, who is paralyzed from the neck down. Lee was on a geological exploration in the U.S when his spine was injured in a car accident, leaving his entire body paralyzed except for his face. Lee entered the classroom strapped to an electric wheelchair. He delivered his lecture by manipulating a computer with a straw-shaped mouse he operates with his breath. Students said the lecture progressed so smoothly that they couldn't notice the professor's disability.
Lee had once believed that his paralysis had ended his life, but a U.S. system of rehabilitative medicine saved him. An occupational therapist at a rehabilitation center in Los Angeles stuck by Lee's side and trained him rigorously until he could return to his former life. At the center Lee learned how to use computer equipment that he could control with his mouth, eyes and nods of his head. He was taught how to handle everyday activities, such as eating, bathing and going to the bathroom.
The true objective of rehabilitative medicine is to allow the disabled to get jobs and live with a sense of accomplishment. In the U.S. there are more than 2,000 rehabilitative centers for car accident victims. Chung Bum-jin, a second-generation Korean American who was paralyzed from the neck down in a car accident in 1991, underwent rehabilitative therapy and passed the bar exam to become the youngest superintendent public prosecutor at the New York District Attorney's Office. He now works as a judge in a New York district court. The state of New York is said to have paid for Chung's medical bills, transportation to and from school, and even a caretaker.
There are approximately 30,000 severely handicapped people in Korea. But there are only 4,000 hospital beds at rehabilitation facilities in hospitals across the country. Hospitals are reluctant to build rehabilitation centers because even if a professional therapist spends hours on a single patient, they only get W8,000 (US$1=948) from the government's health insurance program.
The equipment used by Lee can easily be produced by Korean high-tech firms. The Korea Orthopedics and Rehabilitation Engineering Center developed an electric wheelchair that can be controlled by the movements of a user's shoulders. This wheelchair costs between W3 million (US$1=W948) to W10 million, but the government only offers a maximum of W1 million per handicapped citizen.
Lee's triumph makes us wonder when Korea will become a country where the disabled can live normal lives without losing their dignity as human beings.
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