As stated above, information about the
Deaf Experience for North Korean citizens is hard to find. Korean culture tends to look down on disabled people. Often, disability is thought to have come from sins of a past life. Because of this, "family members think that the disability is detrimental to their social standing and try to hide the disabled person". This attitude toward Deafness is very prevalent in North Korea. We see this through the lack of reporting about a Deaf child in North Korean families. Diagnosing pre-school aged children with hearing disabilities is very difficult because parents are unwilling to get them into testing. Also, only 2% of Deaf North Korean children are enrolled in a Deaf school, compared to the average 10-12% of Deaf children in other developing countries. There is also a culture of families "hiding" their disabled children from the public lens, so the information that is available may not be accurate for every Deaf resident. Because of this fear of making disabilities known, there is not much education about hearing disabilities given to North Korean citizens who are Deaf or hard of hearing. Often parents will choose to just keep their Deaf child home instead of sending them to a residential school because of this. This makes it difficult for Deaf children to be properly educated and integrated into society. For families who do disclose their child's Deafness, there are many schools for the Deaf in North Korea. The schools began being created in the 1940s, and by 1995 there were eight special schools for the Deaf. These schools provide education in
Korean sign language, which was recognized as a language by the Korean government in 2003. These schools provide only 10 years of schooling, and prepare their students for very specific careers, such as being a barber or a seamstress. Because of the lack of diverse job training, job integration for the Deaf is scarce. In 2003, a German man named Robert Grund came to North Korea as a representation of the
World Federation of the Deaf. His goals when coming to North Korea were to empower more Deaf individuals, create more Deaf schools, and teach Korean Sign Language to more interpreters. One of the main things Grund is known for is creating the first Deaf kindergarten in
Pyongyang. His slogan is "nothing about us, without us", meaning that Deaf citizens of North Korea deserve to have a say in policies made for people with disabilities. In 2014, North Korea debuted their all Deaf soccer team. They played their first out of country game in
Australia. The players are between the ages of 15 and 25 and communicate with their coach using
sign language and flags. There is a lot of controversy regarding whether this is a sign that North Korea treats their Deaf citizens well. The soccer team could be a ploy to get other countries to think that they treat their Deaf citizens well. == Alleged infanticide of babies with birth defects ==