Meanings of independence and assistance: textual analysis of personal assistance in South Korea

Abstract

Both Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the growth of the Independent Living Movement (ILM) have contributed to the introduction of the concept of personal assistance in East Asian countries. However, policymakers in East Asian countries need to translate personal assistance into their languages and sociocultural contexts. With the assumption that the language and terminology used in policy contain social interpretations and cultural understandings of policymakers, this article examines how personal assistance has been translated into Korean legal and administrative texts. Results show that the current Korean personal assistance services have a narrow understanding of independence and assistance while implicitly assuming family intervention. Moreover, assistance has been interpreted as an act of caregiving, which can impair the quality of the services. This article concludes with the importance of qualitative textual analysis of personal assistance services with consideration of sociocultural specificity.

Points of interest

• This article analyzes Korean personal assistance services law and policy documents surrounding personal assistance.

• The family has a strong power in Korean personal assistance services. Sometimes this power can make disabled users find it difficult to choose and control the services.

• Personal attendants in Korean personal assistance services are encouraged to behave like volunteers instead of professionals, and this can lead to negative experiences for disabled users.

• Understanding personal assistance services in local contexts matters because the translated concepts of independence and assistance may fail to protect the rights of disabled people.

Keywords:

• Personal assistance
• independent living
• disability policy
• textual analysis
• South Korea
• East Asia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).