The Seoul Metropolitan City Seoul Comprehensive Welfare Center for the Disabled, Seoul Southeast Assistive Device Center (Center Director Kang Yong-won, operating entity Purme Foundation), announced on the 11th that it will launch a customized assistive device support project for low-income children with rare diseases in partnership with World Vision.

The customized assistive device support project for children with rare diseases is a program that provides personalized assistive devices to low-income children with rare diseases who have difficulty accessing and purchasing assistive devices due to financial hardship or lack of information about the devices. This project has been carried out by the Seoul Southeast Assistive Device Center in collaboration with World Vision since 2017, and applications are accepted nationwide (Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon, Daejeon, Gyeongnam, Jeonbuk, Busan, Daegu, Gwangju, Chungbuk, Jeju Island).

While customized assistive devices tailored to each life stage are necessary to expand social participation opportunities for children and adolescents with rare diseases, a key feature of this project is that it provides personalized assistive devices that are not standard off-the-shelf products, and that it is difficult to receive support through public funding.

The target recipients are children and adolescents diagnosed with rare diseases aged 23 or younger, who are recipients of basic livelihood security, are in the next income bracket, or whose median income is less than 80% (as of 2019).

The application period is from March 11th (Monday) to April 11th (Thursday) for the first round, and from June 24th (Monday) to July 25th (Thursday) for the second round. After document review and individual field evaluations, final beneficiaries will be selected and devices will be provided.

Kang Yong-won, Director of the Seoul Southeast Assistive Device Center, stated, "Children and adolescents with rare and intractable diseases are prioritizing treatment in their lives. Despite having various needs such as mobility, information access, and social activities, they are giving up or living passively. The burden on families (guardians) also increases with treatment and daily life. We want to alleviate the burden on guardians even a little by providing customized assistive devices. We hope that this will foster a will to create an environment where children and adolescents with rare diseases can live ordinary lives within their communities."

For applications and more detailed information, please visit or call the Seoul Southeast Assistive Device Center at the Seoul Comprehensive Welfare Center for the Disabled.

Meanwhile, the Seoul Southeast Assistive Device Center was established in 2008 by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, commissioned to the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, as the first assistive device center in Seoul. It is currently operated by the Purme Foundation.

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Overview of Seoul Comprehensive Welfare Center for the Disabled

The Seoul Comprehensive Welfare Center for the Disabled, established by the Seoul Metropolitan Government in 1982, is the first comprehensive welfare center for the disabled in Korea and is a community-based rehabilitation institution for the disabled operated by the Purme Foundation.