Disability rights activists have sent messages of solidarity toward YouTuber Park Wi ("Wiracle"), who stirred controversy by releasing footage of a KTX fall accident.
On the 2nd, the National Solidarity for the Elimination of Disability Discrimination (Jeonjangyeon) posted on its official social media a contribution by Kim Sang-hee, director of the Nodeul Center for Independent Living for People with Disabilities, titled "He did not know a non-disabled-centered society." Through this contribution, Jeonjangyeon raised its voice.
Director Kim initially expressed honest feelings about Park Wi's content. She said, "Honestly, I didn't particularly like his content even before," noting that Park Wi's videos tended to highlight individual overcoming or reliance on the kindness of non-disabled people rather than structural social problems that produce disability, and that the narrative did not greatly disturb the non-disabled-centered society.
However, she confessed that her perspective changed as she watched the controversy that recently erupted around Park Wi. Director Kim emphasized, "No matter how much social resources and public recognition a person with a disability has, in a non-disabled-centered society they can again be subject to discrimination and hate for disability at any time."
Issues of portrait rights or personal information protection that arose during the process of releasing the footage are separate matters that require reflection, and even if critique is warranted, that does not justify mocking disability itself, attacking demands for mobility rights, or even directing malicious comments at partners (family).
In particular, Director Kim pointed out the cold reality that society welcomes people with disabilities when they provide inspiration, but becomes uncomfortable when they demand rights, saying, "People with disabilities are welcomed when they give inspiration, but become inconvenient beings when they demand rights," and that the society that applauded "bright and positive living people with disabilities" suddenly turns its back and frames them as "nuisance" and "special treatment" the moment they demand rights and hold someone accountable.
Director Kim also suggested to Park Wi, "I hope you safely escape the swamp of meaningless hate comments. Don't leave this experience as merely personal misfortune; let's talk together in the language of rights about why people with disabilities must rely on charity and kindness every time they move." She proposed raising voices together on the issue of mobility rights for people with disabilities.
She added, "Let's read the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) together and do a mobility rights campaign together. The world of resistance will be much more exhausting than the world of inspiration, but now let's fight together."
Earlier, Park Wi faced backlash after posting CCTV footage on his personal YouTube channel of a wheelchair tipping over while disembarking a KTX and publicly targeting the community service worker who had made a mistake. He later deleted the video and posted an apology, but the controversy expanded to past issues such as lecture fees, and he ultimately suffered serious repercussions, including stepping down from his role as a Seoul city promotional ambassador.
[Photo] Park Wi SNS
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