Students walk out of Yonsei University in Seoul after taking an essay exam for college entrance on Oct. 2, 2021. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — While the South Korean legal drama “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” is raising awareness about people with autism spectrum disorders, only a few people with autism are actually able to attend university, data showed Sunday.
Rep. Lee Eun-joo of the minor opposition Justice Party quoted a report from the Ministry of Education that noted among 6,762 graduates of high schools for the disabled in 2022, 5,192 were either mentally disabled (4,386 people) or autistic (806 people), accounting for 76.8 percent of all graduates.
After graduation, 17.9 percent of the visually disabled, 18.8 percent of those with hearing disabilities, 33.6 percent of the mentally disabled, 38.1 percent of the physically disabled, and 37.2 percent of those on the autism spectrum did not pursue college or get a job, which shows that there was a higher proportion of those with developmental and physical disabilities.
At 56.2 percent, more than half of all graduates of high schools for the disabled went on to attend university.
Excluding the vocational programs offered exclusively to the disabled, however, only 20 percent made it to general or specialized universities, which is quite low compared to the country’s overall rate of college entrance (73.7 percent) as of 2021.
Sorted by types of disabilities, 61.5 percent of those with hearing disabilities, 55 percent of those with health impairments, 50.9 percent of those with communication disabilities, 50.6 percent of those with learning disabilities, 49.4 percent of the visually disabled, 40.3 percent of the emotionally disabled, 35.9 percent of the physically disabled, 12.9 percent of the mentally disabled and 10.4 percent of those with autism disorders ended up attending university, indicating that most of those with developmental disabilities did not enter general or specialized universities.
The employment rate stood at 8.5 percent for those with hearing disabilities, 13 percent for the mentally disabled, 5.5 percent for those with autism, 2.6 percent for the visually disabled, 1.8 percent for the physically disabled, 10.9 percent for those with communication disabilities and 6.9 percent for those with learning disabilities.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
