One in ten people in the world is disabled, and one in two senior citizens aged 65 or older is disabled. With the aging population and rapid industrial development, the number of disabled people due to accidents and disasters is increasing. Disabilities can come to anyone, not just someone else’s business. There are five million disabled people in Korea (including 2.4 million unregistered disabled people), and about 95 percent of them are acquired disabled. This means that citizens without disabilities can become disabled at any time.
   April 20 is Disabled Day in Korea. Although public opinion is aroused every year on this day about the poor human rights of the disabled, this year's interest was exceptionally high. This is because the Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination (SADD) has amplified the demand for a “guaranteed budget for the rights of the disabled” into a big social noise since last December. Nevertheless, organizations regarding disabilities faced this day more solemnly than in any other year. This may be because they already know well from experience that the structure of discrimination against the disabled can never be broken by a one-time interest.
   According to the National Rehabilitation Center, the crude death rate (the ratio of deaths per 1,000 people to the total population) of the disabled from 2018 to 2020 was about 2.3 times higher every year than the total population’s death rate. It cannot help but be called a "structural death." The right to move, support for care, budget for rights, and even labor rights, which groups for the disabled say, are not "special treatment" for the disabled, but rather "correction of discrimination." They demand a guarantee of equal rights to the disabled as fellow citizens.
   The National Assembly passed the Act on the Promotion of the Transportation Convenience of Mobility Disadvantaged Persons late last year, but it did not specify the budget allocation, creating this problem. Previous policies for the disabled used to be blocked by the budget. For the announcement to not be stopped simply as a rosy promise, it will be necessary to clarify its policy on the budget for the rights of the disabled. Nominal laws do not guarantee the rights of the disabled.
   Some point out that SADD's subway commuting protest is excessive, but it is not illegal. It is an opportunity look back on whether we ignored the benefits that the disabled people should receive just because we are uncomfortable for a while. Freedom of movement is only the start of acquiring basic constitutional rights such as the right to work and to receive education. I hope we can take a big step “for a world without discrimination beyond prejudice of disability,” as the slogan for the Disabled Day tells us.