The news desk in 1996
Atlanta Paralympic Gold Medalist Kim Hae-ryong
Hae-ryong Kim, 47, won the gold medal in the individual boccia event at the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, USA.
Boccia is a ball-throwing game similar to curling, a winter sport, and requires a high level of sensitivity and concentration.
Interview with Kim at the news desk in 1996
Kim’s gold medal was the result of overcoming a severe brain lesion that made it difficult to speak or move properly.
During her career as an athlete, Kim continued to challenge and fight to her limits, and four years later she was able to win a gold medal in the Boccia team event in Sydney, Australia.
Even after his career as an athlete, Kim entered the Graduate School of Rehabilitation and Welfare.
The reason was “I want to help my fellow disabled people overcome their limitations through sports activities”.
Medals that Mr. Kim won
The school recognized his career, and at the time, he appointed Mr. Kim as the only disabled sports team coach in a domestic university.
The title of his master’s thesis is ‘A Study on Pre-match Competition Anxiety in Boccia Players with Cerebral Palsy’.
I met Mr. Kim, who is still taking on new challenges.
Why Gold Medalist Hae-ryong Kim stopped at Dongjak Station in Seoul
Kim, who lives in Dongjak-gu, Seoul, has been using the Seoul subway for 20 years.
On the 8th, the reporting team accompanied Mr. Kim, who was moving from Guro Digital Complex in Seoul to Banpo.
This is the route where you need to take the subway line 2, transfer to line 4 at Sadang Station, and then transfer to line 9 at Dongjak Station.
The activity assistant who accompanied Mr. Kim was busy.
Because you need to quickly find the location of the subway elevator.
[신만진/ 활동보조사]
“The only thing wheelchairs can use is the elevator, so we’re looking for an elevator first.”
Usually, you have to take elevator #1 from outside the station to the waiting room and from the waiting room to the platform, and if there are a lot of people, you have to wait.
So I took the elevator at least twice at each station, but I got to Dongjak Station smoothly.
However, a problem arose in the passage to transfer to Line 9.
[서울 지하철9호선 안전요원]
“There is no elevator. I can’t go to the platform in a wheelchair right now.”
In fact, when I went there, there was a sign that stopped running.
This is due to flooding of elevators due to torrential rain.
On August 8, a month ago, Dongjak Station on Line 9 was submerged in water due to torrential rain, and operation was suspended, and elevators and escalators were also broken.
It hasn’t been restored yet, so how do I go about it?
[서울 지하철9호선 안전요원]
(Where do I have to go to transfer to Line 9?)
“If you want to transfer to Line 9, take Line 4 to Seoul Station, then take Line 1 at Seoul Station and go to Noryangjin Station to transfer. That’s the closest route.”
Go back to Line 4, cross the Han River twice, transfer two more times, and go back to Dongjak Station to go to Gubanpo Station.
I gave up the transfer and went out of the ticket gate and tried to enter the subway line 9 entrance, but this elevator was also not restored.
The best option was to just go from Dongjak Station to Gubanpo in a wheelchair.
This is because the elevator inside Gubanpo Station broke down anyway, and even if Mr. Kim came back, he could not get out of the station.
Disabled people roaming the Seoul subway and calling taxis “Even if it’s properly guided…”
Seo-yoon Hong, a disabled person, had a similar experience.
I went to Dongjak Station without knowing that the elevator was broken,
I rode the subway at work hours and virtually wandered around central Seoul.
I was going to start at National Assembly Station on Line 9, go through Dongjak Station, and go to Hyehwa Station, but eventually I had to go to Express Bus Terminal and transfer to Line 3 and then one more time at Chungmuro Station.
[홍서윤/지체장애인]
“If the battery in the wheelchair wasn’t enough, there could be a situation where you could stop in the middle, so it was a situation where I was a little nervous.”
Hong frequently uses subway lines such as National Assembly Station (Line 9) and Hyehwa Station (Line 4) due to frequent business trips, but unexpected obstacles have arisen.
The same is true of Park Geon-hee, a disabled person who lives near Songpanaru Station on Line 9.
Although I live only 5 minutes from the subway station, I always call a taxi for the disabled when commuting to work or going to the hospital.
[박건희/지체장애인]
“Elevator at Dongjak Station is currently stopped, so I just get off at the next station without stopping… Because of these problems, I tend to use handicapped call taxis a lot…”
As for the reason for the delay in the restoration, Line 9 and the Seoul Transportation Corporation explained that the key parts of the elevator were broken and needed to be replaced, but it took time to import.
Although the guidance should be correct, ‘Transfer at Dongjak Station’ is still displayed on the routes for the weak in transportation guided by ‘Ttota Subway’, the official app of the Seoul Transportation Corporation.
It was difficult to find notices for the disabled even in private apps such as Naver Map and Kakao Map.
The Line 9 side is notifying the ‘Elevator Operation Suspension’ only through its website and SNS.
As a result, even those with disabilities who searched in advance had no choice but to go to the subway station and do nothing.
People with disabilities said that it was the same every time something like this happened, and they said that there were many times when they realized that they had to go in front of the elevator at the subway station to realize the ‘stop operation’.
Those who are more vulnerable to natural disasters… ‘If only you could tell me how’
Kim Hae-ryong, who eventually gave up the transfer to Line 9, told reporters:
[김해룡]
“I don’t know what to do with…”
Mr. Kim said he did not want to criticize the subway operating company blindly because the elevator repair was delayed, or to ask for special benefits to the disabled in heavy rain.
I asked people with disabilities, who are more vulnerable in the face of unavoidable natural disasters, to teach them “how to do it.”
26 years ago, when traveling to the United States to win a gold medal, attending training camps, writing a thesis at about 20 strokes per minute for a master’s degree, and heading to school, he came here by trying to find any way.
Kim, who had difficulty communicating face-to-face, sent a long text message to reporters after the interview.
“When such natural disasters occur, there is nothing we can do about it. People with severe disabilities like us become more vulnerable. If people with disabilities are excluded from all fields because they cannot work in a country or community, I think it is a non-civilized society. The right to move I want the state and local governments to recognize that people with disabilities live in the local community, and I want them to think that anyone can have a disability.”
Like Mr. Kim, other disabled people suffer from countless inconveniences and are moving somewhere every day towards their dreams.
Natural disasters will surely come again, and as in this case, the aftereffects will last longer for the socially disadvantaged.
Next time, if our society is concerned so that the aftereffects do not last longer, and if we tell you the best way even in an unavoidable situation, wouldn’t it be possible for those who stopped to come one step closer to their dreams?
▶ [집중취재M] Even after a month of heavy rain, subway elevators are ‘eaten’…
https://imnews.imbc.com/replay/2022/nwdesk/article/6406259_35744.html
▶ Atlanta Paralympic Boccia match Kim Hae-ryong gold
https://imnews.imbc.com/replay/1996/nwdesk/article/2010310_30711.html
Video Reporters: Son Ji-yoon, Nam Hyun-taek