(Seoul = Disability Awareness Newspaper) Columnist Choi Bong-hyuk (Expert in AI, ESG, and DX Convergence, Expert in Disability Awareness Education in the Workplace) = Kang Seon-a's mother, Park Jeong-suk, was born 18 months later... Could you make up for the time you were hurt when you were born 3 times?~

Our family always lived painting rainbows in our ordinary daily lives.

Mom was happy raising a newborn baby with her dad, mom, and eldest daughter Seon-a.

As time passed, Seon-a was prone to illness compared to her older sister who was born 17 months earlier or to other children of her age.

In everyday life, her language development was slow and her cognitive ability was also slow, so the mother who was raising her was busier, harder, and more tired than other mothers, and she spent many days asleep.

But she was happy. We embraced the "different meaning" that my doppelganger and our youngest daughter gave us.

Once crying started, it was useless to soothe her, and she would cry for more than an hour and only stop crying when she was tired of crying. Mom didn't know why, so she kept having heartburn over and over again without knowing what to do with her crying baby.

Every time that happened, I wondered if something was wrong with the child... I wanted to think that she was just late in her normal development.

One day, while I was feeling anxious, my older sister suggested that I get a hospital checkup.

And with the doctor's opinion that there was a high possibility of autism, I searched for a doctor who was famous for autism since Seon-a was 18 months old, and I diligently visited him for almost two years.

There were only two questions I asked when I met the doctor. First, I asked if my child was autistic, hoping that she wasn't.

Second, if she was autistic, would she become whole if I raised her well in the future?~ It was still too young, so the doctors didn't make a diagnosis lightly.

They just said that her development was significantly delayed compared to other children of the same age, so mom should play with her diligently at home, and if she could send her to a playroom or kindergarten when she was 3 or 4 years old, she should send her.

At that time, I thought that Seon-a's developmental delay was a mental illness caused entirely by my mother's fault, so I felt sorry for Seon-a and guilty.

So I hugged Seon-a tightly and said to her, "Would you be better if you paid back the time you were hurt from birth to 18 months three times?~

But the situation was such that I couldn't devote all my time to Seon-a.

Seon-a's older sister also needed a lot of help, so it was hard to take care of both children completely.

Her older sister would cry because she wanted to play outside, and Seon-a was sensitive to light, so she would cry whenever she went outside. Even in the middle of summer, I would carry the baby and cover her tightly with an adult's coat, so she would be drenched in sweat like a child who had just washed her hair.

People in the neighborhood didn't know what was going on and said, "It's been a while since you gave birth, why don't you show me the baby's face?" If they tried to take off her covered clothes, Seon-a would cry out without fail.

When her older sister was playing happily with her friends at the playground, Seon-a would instantly leave the playground and head for the parking lot, and while I went to get Seon-a, her older sister would look for her mom and couldn't find her until it got dark, so she reported it to the police, and her father, who was at work, came, and we were able to find her after a lot of twists and turns.

Things that were insignificant to others seemed like everyday incidents in which our family was constantly worried and panicked, like walking on thin ice.

After giving birth to Seon-a, I wanted to raise my two daughters who were born one after another like twins, teaching them ballet and taking them to the swimming pool, but that was just a short- lived dream. In fact, thinking about it now, it was too daunting to deal with an autistic child at 18 months old.

Artist Kang Seon-a working on a drawing
Seon-a's schedule at 18 months old was really packed.

In the morning, she had cognitive and language education, and in the afternoon, she played outside with her older sister who had come back from kindergarten.

In the evening, there was mom's education at home. It was education through play forms such as playing in the water, playing with blocks, reading books, playing with clay, and playing in the ball pool.

Mom's education was a simple, repetitive play education that the body remembers rather than the head, by seeing with the eyes, making sounds with the mouth, listening with the ears, and touching with the hands, from the child's perspective.

Even though I couldn't guarantee future growth, I lived hoping that I could do it, discovering small changes every time I repeated it like that for 365 days, according to the schedule, for 730 days.

Over time, I saw a lot of big and small progress, and one day when she was 3 or 4 years old, Seon-a read Korean word cards, recognized the seven colors of the ball pool, played in the living room and ran to the bathroom to go to the bathroom on her own, it was a miracle and a grateful thing as a mother.

Every day, she made various colored flour dough with food coloring, and her hand muscles were strengthened by coloring, cutting with scissors, and cutting. After the age of 7, her fingernails and toenails were never cut.

Even now, she makes you feel the joy of eating nuts by shelling nuts, even banknut shells and chestnuts.

One day when she was 6 years old, she drew a Teletubby while coloring on paper like colored paper, saying that she had drawn a Teletubby, and a line drawing came out.

This series of miraculous events on a certain day was actually a continuous perceptual movement within Seon-a's inner world.

The time I spent struggling with Seon-a for three times the time of 18 months became a cornerstone of hope that came to me all of a sudden one day.

At school, there was morning worship every Monday as a special activity for the Christian mission school. She attended school an hour early and enjoyed singing worship motion songs with her teachers and friends for three years.

Through activities in the art class, she has had art exhibitions every year, and her art products are also on display at the Seoul Citizen's Hall art product corner.

She also made leather crafts and felt crafts through pottery classes and handicraft classes, and they were sold in a gift shop of a combination form that was prepared as a school practice space, and she also received barista training and passed the certification at a cafe that was prepared as a practice space.

As a volunteer for the barista class for parents, I also received the barista certification by assisting for three years.

She repeatedly received education in external institution visits, experiences, and various social adaptation trainings related to occupations.

Through active participation in school life, such as performance presentations where all students could perform on stage, inline skate competitions held after continuous repetitive training for physical fitness, and track and field competitions held outside the school, Seon-a's development has shown a general qualitative improvement.

Therefore, Seon-a's drawings are pictures that contain stories that she wants to share and things she wants to do with friends and people she wants to meet.

When she was attending kindergarten, there was a boyfriend who may have had a one-sided love for her, and she liked the "F" sound of the handbell played by him, so she also liked eating onions, and she attached her favorite rabbit character to the "F" sound of the handbell, clearly expressing the message of her favorite actions.

When she held her second solo exhibition, she said she would give the four Christmas wreaths that were exhibited to her friends and acquaintances she missed and wanted to see.
In fact, I am very sad because it is difficult to meet friends from elementary and middle school and acquaintances in this situation.

The fact that her current job is also a job as a painter because her hobby and special talent of drawing has led to artwork activities, is also a happy thing that many people hope for.

Mom's small steps are bearing fruitful results, and her awards are outstanding.

Artist's Profile
Drawing play, which began as part of treatment education, naturally led to hobbies and artwork activities. Most of her works are meticulously drawn, reconstructing everyday experiences that were enjoyable through existing characters and original characters, with the artist's unique spatial sense, observation skills, and imagination. While thinking about enjoyable memories such as riding amusement rides, scenes from fairy tales, school events, watching sports competitions, family events, walks, etc., the movements and expressions of countless character protagonists are recreated in the artist's reality and imagination.

Education
Graduated from Milar School, Major

Activities
Currently, an artist belonging to Disabled
2023. 12: Summer Walk, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Art Bank Collection
2017 ~ 2021: Participation in the "Our Teachers Who Read Books" cultural and arts education program for kindergartens
2021. 4: Participation in SK Hynix mural design
2017. 4.: Mural work inside the Gangnam Disability Welfare Center restaurant
2016. 2.: Illustration for the book "O. Henry's Story", Illustration for the book "Puzzle of the Heart"