Protect rights of disabled better

Regarding the April 20 editorial ``Let's Make a Difference'' about the human rights for the disabled, I would like to mention some further steps that our society should take.

First, the major conglomerates should be role models who contribute to society while thinking of their mass influence on society.

According to the employment law for disabled people set in 1991, disabled workers should form over 2 percent of a companies' workforce if it numbers more than 300 hundred people.

Compared to some advanced countries such as Italy's 7 percent, France's 6 percent and Germany's 5 percent, Korea's quota is lower. Nevertheless, the rate of hiring disabled staff is below the requirements in some of the major conglomerates.

The government should put more pressure on them to hire enough challenged people and help them have a good influence upon society.

Second, the government should think about what facilities the disabled really want instead of simply providing window dressing. Recently, it is easy to find escalators or elevators in subway stations and ramps for the wheelchair users but these are not fully equipped yet.

In addition, there should be more facilities for visually challenged people such as sound signals for crosswalks and more guide dogs should be provided to them. Before the government arranges the budget, it should listen to the challenged people's opinions.

Lastly and most importantly, there should be constant education on the disabled to get rid of the prejudices toward them. Students receive education on prejudice toward the disabled, but that is not enough. Most of that comes from a one-off event and students just take it as a fun activity.

I recommend making voluntary work to help challenged people a mandatory course in school. The more students spend time with the disabled, the more they share their feelings, understand them and are considerate to them.

According to the research done by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs in 1996, almost 90 percent of disabled people do not have congenital abnormalities.

People should know that being disabled is not something extrinsic to the ordinary people and they should change their attitude toward people with disabilities.