Disabled but tenacious designer wins skills contest

Life is always challenging and sometimes frustrating for wheelchair-user Woo Song-shik. But that could not stop him from pursuing his dream to design a better product.

“New ideas never cease to spring up within me. I am eager all the time to learn more to make products of my own design,” the 37-year-old amateur designer said.

A father of two sons, Woo works at a woodcraft shop in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, making picture frames, tool boxes and other miscellaneous items.

“I love woodcraft and my workplace is laid out for disabled workers. But I dream of having my own work place, where I can put more creativity into designing,” he said in an interview with The Korea Herald. 
 

Woo demonstrated his talent in an international skills contest for disabled people held in Seoul last week. He was among the 23 Korean gold medalists at the International Abilympics, winning the top prize in the product design category.

“I prepared so hard for this competition, so much so that I got a bedsore,” he said. He practiced both at home and at work, devoting the whole of his waking hours to the preparation for the contest. He even cut down on sleep for the three months before the event.

Woo discovered his talent as a product designer after a car accident in August 2007 paralyzed him from the waist down. Before the mishap, he had run an interior design shop.

About 18 months after the incident, Woo enrolled himself in a state-run vocational training center for the physically disadvantaged. In the facility in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province, he met and learned a lot from a colleague who had won a gold medal in a national skills contest for the disabled.

In May 2009, he participated in a product design contest involving both the able-bodied and the disabled. He entered the category of wheelchair design and manufacture.

“I had nothing. No knowledge of wheelchair making at that time. I just wanted to challenge myself by vying with able-bodied people,” he said.

As a wheelchair user himself, he had some ideas about how to improve his own machine. He had dissembled his own wheelchair and redesigned it as he liked. The experience helped him a lot in drawing up an award-winning new product. Woo won the second prize in the competition.

The prize was rewarding but not of a great help to his livelihood. He still struggles to support his two sons ― aged 7 and 4 ― making picture frames every day.

“I don’t make enough money for my family, so my wife works,” he said.

In good news for him, the state-run Korea Employment Agency for the Disabled, which hosted this year’s Abilympics, will hand out a special bonus of 50 million won to gold medalists.

Korea ranked first in the medal tally, with 23 gold medals out of the 40 up for grabs.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)