The case of the Blind Masseurs

To my surprise, a Korean news story popped up while I was listening to an Aussie radio podcast the other day. It was about blind masseurs, a group that have, until now, had the exclusive legal right to work in this field.

Apparently, this employment situation was introduced during the Japanese colonial period to provide employment for a group that is often discriminated against in employment in Korea- discrimination that some consider to be entrenched in Eastern ideology that believes disabled persons are being punished for wrongs of past lives.

However, this will soon change following a recent Constitutional Court ruling which held that all persons should be free to be masseurs. This has been followed by continual protests by the blind community, who feel that their employment opportunities will be drastically diminished. Apparently, although some positive discrimination laws exists to ensure employment of disadvantaged individuals, many employers would rather pay the fines associated with non-compliance than participate.

Unfortunately, these protests have already lead to suicide attempts and hunger strikes.