Lee Gyu-lee is a business writer at The Korea Times, focusing primarily on IT & telecommunications, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA. Prior to this, she has covered a wide range of cultural news, from film, television and K-pop to lifestyle and fashion.
KOCCA to open creative centers for disabled children in four provinces
The Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) will open four creative centers for disabled students, staring Wednesday. Courtesy of KOCCA
By Lee Gyu-lee
By Lee Gyu-lee
The Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism are joining hands to open the creative centers, “Sangsang Nurimteo,” for disabled students.
The centers will be set up in four different special education facilities in: Osan of Gyeonggi Province, Miryang of South Gyeongsang Province, Gwangsa of Gwangju City and Cheongju of North Chungcheong Province
The Miryang center will be the first one to open on Wednesday, with the rest scheduled for opening at later dates.
Each center will provide a total of 47 interactive activities, including those developed by public organizations, such as the Korea Tourism Organization, the Korea Education and Research Information Service, and the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency.
“Sangsang Nurimteo will resolve the sense of isolation that disabled students have likely experienced during the pandemic, and will provide a place for them to experience a new world,” Kim Young-jun, president of KOCCA, said in a statement, Tuesday.
The project was launched in cooperation with the state-run organization, the National Institute of Special Education, last June. KOCCA consulted professors and departments specialized in teaching students with disabilities, along with experts in related fields, in order to create disability-friendly content.
The activities at the centers provide accessibility services for disabled students, such as captions for students with hearing impairments, and audio description and sound effects for visually impaired students. The content can be adjusted in terms of speed, difficulty and visual effects, accordingly to the age of the users.
One of the activities also includes interactive content that employs a vibration platform for wheelchairs users, to enable access to simulator machine experiences.
Starting with the four centers, KOCCA plans to expand the project to run pop-up centers, in order to make the service accessible to more disabled people.
“This year, our organization will expand our business to provide more creative content and reach wider groups of people with disabilities,” Kim said.