Everything started when I checked a handicapped toilet of the Muenjae Memorial Hall. I was shocked because there were a lot of cleaning tools in the toilet. However, there were even more surprising facts. First, there is no toilet for the handicapped women. Second, there is no wheelchair accessible elevator. It is difficult for disabled people to take classes and to live in POSTECH because of limited facilities. POSTECH must make an environment where disabled people can live without any inconvenience. This is the barrier-free campus.

Besides the Muenjae Memorial Hall, many other buildings in POSTECH lack accessibility for people with disabilities. Furthermore, those problems of each buildings are not known. When outsiders visit POSTECH, or disabled students visit an unfamiliar building, they are unable to use the elevator or the toilet at ease due to lack of information.

As a first solution, I  suggest to show the current accessibility information well enough. So, Student·Minority Human Rights Council MODAM that I lead created the barrier-free map application about POSTECH. We examined the information of entrance door, stair, elevator, and toilet about 25 buildings. We made an Android application that can easily show corresponding information with google map API. I think this application can reduce the problems faced by disabled people a lot. It is also being suggested to post information on the main homepage of POSTECH. That would have a huge impact on outsiders also.

The second solution is to raise interest in human rights of the disabled. While we don’t recognize its necessity well enough, there are many facilities with barrier. Many people think that issues about facilities for the disabled are far from themselves. But we can be disabled at any time. POSTECH should always keep in mind that students with disabilities should always be welcomed and able to enter. MODAM, Disability Student Support Center in POSTECH must do campaigns to publicize rights of disabilities. Removing barrier in heart can also be important to make barrier-free campus.

The last solution is to change facilities. As you can see from barrier-free map application, there are so many facilities with huge barrier about disabilities. It is necessary to use budget to make barrier-free campus. It is the most difficult and prudent thing to do. However, if the mentioned above solutions work well, facilities will be improved a lot. 

I hope that people with differences will be able to live without any inconvenience in POSTECH. If many people are interested in minority human rights, the school will continue to move into a brighter society.