2019년04월23일 14:35
Kim Yewon, a lawyer who lost sight in one eye at birth, founded the Disability Rights Law Center in 2017 to provide pro bono legal help and advocate for people with disabilities. Drawing on experience at a major law firm and a public-interest legal foundation, she has offered over 1,000 free consultations before opening the center and hundreds more since, focusing on everyday legal access gaps faced by social minorities and people with disabilities.

Through her casework Kim exposes systemic failures in the justice system when disability is not taken into account. She recounts wrongful outcomes—such as a long-term labor exploitation case where only about 2 million won was initially recognized—resulting from investigations and trials that ignored disability characteristics. Kim also highlights the particular vulnerability of women with disabilities to sexual exploitation and the absence of specialized public defenders or tailored legal processes for abuse victims.

Beyond individual cases, Kim is pushing for law and policy changes: improved support for online and anonymous sexual exploitation victims, legal recognition of disabled people as victims rather than offenders, and accessible voting materials (easy-to-read ballots and public materials) for people with developmental disabilities. She urges the public to pay attention and report injustices—small acts of interest and intervention, she says, can change a life—and pledges to continue advocating for institutional reforms and expanded victim support.

Original source: [변남변녀] 김예원, “장애인들의 인권에 조금만 관심을 기울여 주세요” (Source: the news outlet; please refer to the original article.)