My presentation is based on “Korean Autistics Facing Systemic Stigmatization from Middle Education Schools: Daily Survival on the Edge as a Puppet”, which was published in Frontiers, 2024. This research is to reveal the systematic stigmatization Korean autistic people have faced from their early lives. Korean autistic people, whose parents wanted to include their autistic children to an integrated secondary education system rather than a special education system, have been exposed to school bullying, which caused trauma to them, leading them to self-stigmatization. That trauma might be also very relevant to mental health problem of autistic adolescents and young autistic adults However, research on how it affects autistic people has not yet been conducted in Korea. The research method was as follows: 14 adult autistic persons in the Republic of Korea participated in the semi-structured focused group interviews; Their conversations were analyzed through qualitative coding. While interviewees experienced physical, verbal, and sexual violence against them during the secondary education period, they could not get substantial assistance from parents, schools and society. Interviewees agreed that bullying is inherent in the secondary education system of Korea, even in Korean culture. They experienced the cause of bullying being attributed to them as victims rather than perpetrators and impunity being given to the bullying assailants. The analyses of this research confirm that such experiences are combined with the sociocultural climate of elitism, ableism, meritocracy, and authoritarianism in the Republic of Korea. This research suggests early intervention strategies to prevent violence against persons with disabilities, especially autistic pupils in Korea. 

Cheolung Je is a Professor of Law, Hanyang University of the Republic of Korea, and has served as the chief of Korean Research Center for Guardianship and Trusts since 2016. He convened the 5th World Congress on the Adult Guardianship, held in October 2018 in Seoul, in capacity of vice-president of Korean Adult Guardianship Association, and has engaged in numerous research projects launched by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Justice in Korea for the improvement of human rights of vulnerable adults and looked-after children. He graduated from Seoul National University (1990), and got a PH.D degree of law at the same university (1995). His research interest has ranged from family law and social welfare law to human rights law.