 | |
Choi Young takes a phone call from a friend congratulating him after he passed the bar exam.
|
 |
|
This year saw the first visually impaired person passing the second round of the national bar exam in the test¡¯s 61-year history. Choi Young (28) was one of 1,005 people who passed the second round of the 50th national bar exam this year. If he successfully passes the third-round interview in November, he will become Korea¡¯s first ever blind lawyer.
Choi is third-degree visually impaired, suffering from retinal pigment degeneration. The number of optic nerve cells that discern black and white and brightness and darkness gradually decreases, and there is no known treatment for the disease.
When he was an elementary school student, he simply thought that he had very poor eyesight. However, as time passed by, he was unable to tell what was in front of him, and he often fell and bumped into things. After the college entrance examination was over, Choi went to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa. Currently, he can barely see what is right in front of him, and has very blurry and narrow sight range.
But nothing could deter him from becoming a lawyer, and he began preparing for the bar exam from 2002. However, he was unsuccessful and did not get past the first round for four times until 2005, when he gave up. While he was still searching for something else to do, he learned at a vocational rehabilitation center that in Japan, there is a system that allows blind people to take an audio-based bar exam. Choi filed a petition with the Ministry of Justice in January. 2006, and the ministry agreed to let the visually impaired take an audio-based test.
It was still not an easy task, but his friends were there to support him. Choi said they helped him to restaurants, to get audio books for exam preparation, and learn complicated legal terms. His parents, who are day laborers in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, provided financial support despite their own difficulties. With all this help, Choi finally passed the first round in 2007, and the second round this year.
¡°I want to work as a lawyer who can bring about change to the social policies for disabled people. I will devote myself to make this society friendlier to the physically and mentally challenged,¡± Choi says.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
|
