Inclusive and Supportive Education Congress International Special Education Conference Inclusion: Celebrating Diversity? 1st - 4th August 2005. Glasgow, Scotland

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Koreans’ Perceptions of Individuals with Disabilities:
Implications for Serving Korean Students with Disabilities

Doreen J. K. Ferko, Assistant Professor
Sarah Sori Kim, Graduate Student
California State University, Fullerton
dferko@fullerton.edu

Increasingly, individuals with disabilities are being included in classes with their non-disabled peers. To effectively educate all children, the teacher must know how to accommodate and modify the curriculum to meet the needs of all students. However, including students with disabilities who are also culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) requires more than curricular accommodations and modifications; it requires an understanding of the sociocultural variables influencing the student.

In many cultures, disability has a negative connotation and individuals with disabilities have little or no hope for living a fulfilled life. These beliefs affect perceiving, interpreting, and behaving (Cartledge & Milburn, 1996). When people immigrate to another country, they take their cultural beliefs with them, which may be at odds with the cultural beliefs of the new country. If more students with disabilities, who are also CLD, are going to be educated along side their non-disabled peers, educators must begin to collaborate with parents and understand the beliefs that may affect whether or not parents will allow their children to be included.

Over the past 30 years, research on culturally and linguistically diverse students served in special education has shown that Latino and African American students have been overrepresented in special education (Artiles, Rueda, Salazar, & Higareda, 2002; Donovan & Cross, 2002). In contrast, Asian students have historically been overlooked in the literature and underrepresented in special education (Poon-McBryer & Garcia, 2000). In recent years there has been enormous growth in the Asian population in the United States; in particular, Korea has ranked in the top 10 countries of origin for those who have immigrated to the U.S. (U.S. Census Bureau, 1999). Despite this influx of new immigrants little discussion about Korean students with disabilities has ensued. The existing research examining Koreans in special education has focused primarily on parental beliefs about education (Kim, 2002; Park, 2004, 2005) and professional/parent relationships (Cho, Singer, & Brenner, 2000, 2003; Kwon, 1994; Park & Turnbull, 2001). Little is known however, about Koreans’ perceptions of disabilities. If Korean students with disabilities are to be educated along with their non-disabled peers, it is imperative that teachers and administrators understand the sociocultural variables affecting Korean students with disabilities so that they can most effectively meet the needs of these students.

The purpose of this study was to assess Koreans’ perceptions of individuals with disabilities. Preliminary data show that there was a discrepancy between what Koreans believe about the educational outcomes for individuals with disabilities and whether or not individuals with disabilities should be educated with their non-disabled peers. Results also revealed that age was an influential factor in the belief that what the mother thinks can affect whether or not she will have a child with a disability. Finally, results showed that Koreans were familiar with visible disabilities, such as cerebral palsy or Down Syndrome; however, they were unfamiliar with invisible disabilities such as learning disabilities. These data as well as limitations to and implications of the study will be discussed.

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