Yeongjong-gu to Establish Employment and Training Center for People With Disabilities; Welfare Blueprint Unveiled at Center’s First Anniversary

Yeongjong-gu District (Mayor Son Hwa-jung) in Incheon has announced plans to establish an employment and training center for people with disabilities to support their independence and participation in society. Mayor Son Hwa-jung presented this direction for the ninth popularly elected local government’s disability welfare policy while attending the first anniversary ceremony of the Yeongjong Community Rehabilitation Center for the Disabled, held on Sept. 8 in the main auditorium of the Yeongjong Multicultural Center.

[The Korean Today] First anniversary ceremony of the Yeongjong Community Rehabilitation Center for the Disabled © Reporter Kim Mi-hee

The ceremony drew some 200 participants, including Yeongjong-gu Mayor Son Hwa-jung, Yeongjong-gu Council Chair Choi Mi-ja, people with disabilities and their families, and officials working in disability welfare. The program included a report on the center’s operational achievements over the past year and its future plans, as well as a performance marking the first anniversary of its opening.

Awards were also presented to those who have contributed to disability welfare in the community. Two organizations — the Haengjeong Myeongjang Joint Administrative Agents Office and the Yeongmaru Tennis Club, which have practiced sharing and volunteer service — and two donors — attorney Kim Jung-sik of the Korea Human Rights Foundation and Yoo Jung-ho, CEO of Wow Kids Pool Villa — were recognized for their service.

Since opening last year, the Yeongjong Community Rehabilitation Center for the Disabled has identified the actual needs of people with disabilities and their families in the Yeongjong area and provided comprehensive services tailored to those needs. The core of its operations is helping people with disabilities build their own lives within the community rather than in institutions.

Specifically, the center operates counseling and case management to design individually tailored services, family support programs, and programs supporting daily living and leisure activities for adults with disabilities. These programs have been well received in the community, and the center is regarded as having established itself as a leading hub for disability welfare in the Yeongjong area in just one year since its opening.

[The Korean Today] Attendees at the first anniversary ceremony © Reporter Kim Mi-hee

In his congratulatory remarks, Mayor Son Hwa-jung went beyond the center’s role to address policy tasks at the district level. “We plan to establish an employment and training center for people with disabilities to support their independence and participation in society,” he said, adding, “We will pursue the Ai Jaram project, the only developmental screening program for infants and toddlers operating in Incheon, with greater substance.”

He went on to say, “In line with growing welfare demand, we will revitalize programs and pursue linkages with various institutions in the community,” emphasizing, “I hope the Yeongjong Community Rehabilitation Center for the Disabled will continue to serve as an essential support network for people with disabilities and their families in the community.”

With the population continuing to grow in the Yeongjong area, demand for disability welfare services is rising as well. If the directions outlined that day — expanding the employment and training infrastructure, strengthening developmental screening for infants and toddlers, and reinforcing inter-agency linkages — translate into actual programs, the range of community disability welfare services centered on the rehabilitation center is expected to broaden further.

[ Reporter Kim Mi-hee: incheonsouth@thekoreantoday.com ]

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