This file photo shows a person with a disability on a wheelchair. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — A growing number of cases of abuse against disabled individuals caused by their families or acquaintances at facilities for the disabled are being reported, a government report said Wednesday.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare reported a 17.8 percent increase in the number of reports of abuse against the disabled last year (4,957 cases).
Among them, 1,124 cases were confirmed as acts of abuse, up 11.5 percent from the previous year.
Close to three-quartes of the victims had developmental disabilities.
The forms of abuse included physical abuse (27.4 percent), financial exploitation (24.9 percent), hybrid forms of abuse (20.8 percent), psychological abuse (10.1 percent) and sexual abuse (10.1 percent).
In the category of financial exploitation, cases of labor exploitation in which the disabled weren’t paid for their work accounted for 10.1 percent of all cases, while 77.2 percent of the victims were intellectually disabled.
At 46.5 percent, close to half of the instances of labor exploitation continued for longer than five years.
Sorted by age, abuse against disabled children under 18 years of age accounted for 14.8 percent of all cases, and 43.4 percent of the perpetrators were their parents.
Another 36.2 percent of all forms of abuse were committed by the disabled person’s parents, spouse, siblings, and other family members, up from 32.8 percent in the year prior.
The data also showed that 41.1 percent of the abuse took place at the disabled person’s home.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
