안과의사, 시각장애인에게 타자를 가르치다 ―‘맹인부흥원’과 공병우의 시각장애인 자활운동

Abstract

This paper traces how Kong Pyung Woo (1907~1995), an ophthalmologist and the inventor of the Korean typewriter, was engaged with activities for the self-sustenance of the visually impaired. After gaining a reputation as the most successful Korean ophthalmologist since the Japanese occupation period (1910~1945), Kong became interested in the welfare of the blind, which led him to coduct various activities for their self-sustenance. His best known contribution was the establishment of the ‘Blind Rehabilitation Center’ in 1959, for which he donated land, buildings, and budget.BRWhat was remarkable with his engagement was that Kong recommended his own typewriter as vocational education for the self-supporting of the blind. Kong Pyung Woo was skeptical about the existing scheme of the special education for the blind, which in effect led everyone into several service sectors, such as massage and acupuncture, since the Colonial Era. Instead, Kong advocated the American model, which emphasized teaching the blind the white-collar skills, equivalent to the non-disabled. Believing that the typewriter was the right skill for the blind to secure a equal job opportuinty, he included his typewriter in the BRC education class. Unlike other Korean typewriter models that competed at the time, Kong’s typewriters could be memorized and operated without seeing the keyboard, which made it as usable to the blind as to the non-blind.BRIn 1969, however, the South Korean government announced new standard keyboards, and marginalized the Kong typewriter, although it was it then occupied more than the half of the market share. Kong’s social engagement also fell into trouble: BRC was closed in 1982. Although Kong Pyung Woo’s experiment did not fully achieve his goals, it is noteworthy that his endeavor was aimed to trailblaze new paths for the self-sustenance of the blind. Kong’s story also illustrates how the renowned intellectuals of the 1960s and 1970s recognized social responsibility and responded to it.