The Construction of the ‘Yoyuk’ System for Children with Physical Disabilities in Korea and the Collective Response of Educational and Rehabilitative Agents

This study examines the formation of special education institutions for children with physical disabilities in Korea from the late 1950s to the 1970s. It explores how “Yoyuk-ron” (療育論, rehabilitative education) and the logic of rehabilitation were introduced into the curriculum, and how these developments impacted the lives of children with disabilities and their families. Special education for children with physical disabilities in Korea originated from residential facilities and treatment centers established after the Korean War. Consequently, education took on a unique characteristic inseparable from medical rehabilitation. In particular, the emergence of early educational institutions such as the Sahmyook Children's Rehabilitation Center in the early 1960s provided the institutional foundation for building an education system centered on “Yoyuk,” where medical intervention was essential, distinguishing it from general education for the blind or deaf.The Yoyuk-ron emphasized within this educational system utilized the “will to rehabilitation,” imposed by expert groups on individuals with disabilities and their families, as its primary driving force. In the 1970s, children with cerebral palsy emerged as the main subjects of education, replacing the declining number of children with polio. With the aim of rehabilitating these children into socially useful beings, Yoyuk-ron demanded intensive home training and the devoted assistance of parents. This resulted in the incorporation of the daily lives of families with disabilities into an expert-centered, medicalized educational system.While families of children with cerebral palsy prioritized rehabilitation as a significant goal, they did not stop at passively internalizing the logic of experts; instead, they moved toward articulating their social demands and seeking their fulfillment. While agreeing with the necessity of rehabilitation and actively pursuing it, they collaborated with rehabilitation specialists to form organizations aimed at better child-rearing and changing social perceptions. Parents sought to facilitate their children's rehabilitation, but in this process, they created public organizations and began to voice their needs in the public sphere. In conclusion, the 1960s and 1970s―a period when educational institutions for children with physical disabilities were formed and Yoyuk-ron was established―saw the expansion of medical rehabilitation logic. However, it was also an era when families of people with disabilities, through strategic collaboration with experts, began to form organizations to voice their needs and demands.