Those who are called people with a borderline intellectual disability or Slow Learners face difficulties in social life due to low intelligence but are excluded from public support because they are not officially classified as disabled. In the “Borderline Intelligence Support Plan” announced by the Ministry of Education in July, a survey is scheduled for the second half of 2024. Accordingly, it is argued that job measures for slow learners should also be devised.

According to a report by "Channel PNU" on the 8th, public support for borderline intelligence people in Busan is still in the process of enacting ordinances. “The Busan City Ordinance on Support for Borderline Intelligence People,” enacted by the Busan on April 5th, 2023, was intended to provide customized support for diagnosing and employing borderline intelligence people. However, a year and a half after its enactment, there has been a lack of employment linkage systems for people with a borderline intellectual disability or support for companies, and there is no support center for them.

The two places with programs to continuously support borderline intelligence people within the Busan area are Mirinae University of the PNU Lifelong Education center for Future and Citizens and a Step-By-Step Station operated by the Suyeong-gu Office. With the exception of these two sites, most are short-term or only in fragmentary policy stages. Mirinae University is conducting a non-degree curriculum for three years from March 2024, and Step-By-Step Station is conducting culture and arts education and job experience education for three months from September 2024.

The two institutions are having difficulty in supporting the employment of people with a borderline intellectual disability due to institutional limitations. Unlike support measures for companies hiring the disabled, there is no support policy for companies hiring people with a borderline intellectual disability. Suyeong-gu Welfare Policy Division said, “Step-By-Step Station’s final goal is employment linkage, but it is still difficult to find a place of employment. Currently, there is no place to hire them because there is no benefit.”

Experts also say that in addition to education for people with a borderline intellectual disability, supporting them in finding employment and becoming self-reliant is essential. “The 61st EDI Policy Debate for Supporting Borderline Intelligence Youths”, held in the conference room of the National Assembly Library on September 27th, discussed the difficulty of finding jobs for those with borderline intelligence. Byun Min-Soo, a senior researcher at Korea Employment Agency for Persons with Disabilities, said, “Even if people with a borderline intellectual disability get a job after receiving general vocational training and are introduced to the job, they often leave the company without working for a long time. It means Korean society is systematically excluding those with borderline intelligence.”

To activate the employment rate of people with a borderline intellectual disability, the government have to encourage corporate support. Hwang Tae-Yeon, who runs the smart farm company “Happy Everyday” with 10 individuals with borderline intelligence, said, “People with a borderline intellectual disability need more time to acquire tasks than others, but Diligent people become another talent if they gain experience for a long time. Rather than having people with a borderline intellectual disability who can’t find a job become basic livelihood recipients and incur social costs, the nation’s support for companies that hire them would be the better direction to reduce overall social costs.”

There is also an opinion that the borderline intelligence support policy should consider and prepare their “growth potential” together. Lee Bo-Ram, who runs the YouTube channel “Walking the Boundaries” as a special education teacher and parent of a child with a borderline intellectual disability, said at the “Legislative Debate on Supporting Borderline Intelligence” held at the National Assembly on August 28th, “Life is like an unselectable fate for people with a borderline intellectual disability. However, they can choose how they will live their lives. We need to ‘shift the perspective’ of the bill for them to one that looks at their growth potential, not just supporting and protecting them.” Lee proposed legislation that would include specifying central agencies that would provide a consistent manual, and linking the Act on the employment promotion for individuals with disabilities to employment policies for borderline intelligence.

Kim Hee-Jung (Member of the National Assembly People Power Party, Yeonje-gu), who held the debate, said, “Due to physical characteristics or social background, it can’t be a society where people live together if there are boundaries between people. We want to supplement the contents of the bill and get signatures from as many lawmakers as possible.” For the first time in the 21st National Assembly, several laws were proposed on education and rights guarantees for people with a borderline intellectual disability. Still, all were abolished due to the expiration of their terms.

Reporter Oh Jeong-Rin, Lim Seung-Ha

Translated by Seo Ye-Jin