• Date: November 26th, Thursday, 2020 14:00 – 17:00
• Online symposium via YouTube

Save the Children, SNU Institute of Social Welfare, and SNU Asia Center are jointly holding the ‘2020 International Symposium on Child Well-being in Korea’ at SNUAC Samick Hall at 2 pm on November 26th, based on the recent research outcomes.

The ‘Child Well-being in Korea’ research project conducted by Save the Children, an international aid development NGO and SNU Institute of Social Welfare, has been presenting the ranks of Korean child well-being every two years since 2012. According to the results of this fifth study conducted in 2019 over 8,171 children in grades 3, 5, and 7 and their parents, the quality of life for children in Sejong city was the highest while that of those in Jeollanam province were the lowest, among 17 cities and provinces in Korea. On the other hand, the researchers conducted a survey on 124 disabled children in grades 3 to 7 in order to examine the quality of life for children with disability in this fifth study and conducted focus group interviews on 6 groups (5 disability types), total 16 children in higher grades of elementary school and middle school living in Seoul and Gyeonggi province. As the result, it appeared that the quality of life for disabled children was lower in terms of overall happiness, health, relationships with parents and peers, and material circumstances, compared to that for non-disabled children. The factors in the happiness of disabled children included functional difficulties due to the disability, but relationships with parents and peers and leisure with parents appeared to have a bigger influence. The lives of disabled children did not appear distinctly different from those of non-disabled children in the focus group interviews. Disabled children were also ‘children’ interested in singers, sports games, toys, tasty food, and IT devices, just like the non-disabled children. Meanwhile, social discrimination, stigmatization, and negative consciousness for disability were factors that hindered the happiness of disabled children. The research results showed that the causes of lower quality of life for disabled children were the environmental limitations and prejudices around them rather than their disability itself.