"My name is Young-woo, as in "Flower(英)" and "Luck(禑)". It means a lucky charm as pretty as
flowers. But perhaps Young-woo as in "Clever" and "Foolish" would've been a better fit. Woo Young-woo, who remembers every single book she's read since birth but can't even go through a revolving door. Clever and foolish Woo Young-woo."

This is what Woo Young-woo(played by Park Eun- bin), the main character of the drama 'Extraordinary Attorney Woo', says to herself for not being able to pass the revolving door. The main character is an autistic genius named Woo Young-woo, who, after graduating from a top law school with honors thanks to her photographic memory, embarked on a career as an attorney at a big law firm. She was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder when visiting a hospital because she couldn't speak until she was five years old. She memorizes law books like a children's song, but even as an adult, she has awkward speech and gestures, angles gimbap, and pencils, and is obsessed with 'whale'. Although she is afraid of the revolving door on her way to work, she touches the judge by saying, 'I love the law,' and unravels the laws of civil and criminal law without hesitation. Last summer, the public cheered enthusiastically for Woo Young-woo.

Accordingly, social interest in autism spectrum disorder has increased, and people's awareness of autism spectrum disorder has improved. What is the autism spectrum disorder that many people have been interested in, due to the influence of the drama? Autism spectrum disorder has a very broad and complex spectrum, as implied by the term itself. It refers to a developmental disorder that shows limited and repetitive behavior, interest, and activities while showing continuous defects in social interaction and communication. Recently, the prevalence rate has increased significantly. It is a common disease with an incidence of 2 out of 50 people. It is diagnosed as autism spectrum disorder when social communication defect and interaction defect appear together with behavioral characteristics that extremely dislike change and overreact to sensory information such as vision, hearing, and touch.

However, it is not easy to diagnose it because the symptoms and severity vary depending on the time of onset, development level, and environment. Lee Ji-won, a professor of mental health medicine at Soonchunhyang University Hospital in Bucheon, said, "The cause of autistic spectrum disorder is not yet known, but it is thought to be caused by a complex combination of a number of genetic mutations related to brain development that governs child’s sociality." In addition, he said, "Accurate diagnosis is not easy because it often appears or overlaps with other developmental disorders such as delayed language development, intellectual disabilities and ADHD(attention deficit hyperactivity disorder)."

If it is determined that someone has a high possibility of autism spectrum disorder, diagnosis is made using diagnostic evaluation tools such as ADOS- 2(Automatic Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2) and ADI-R(Automatic Diagnostic Interview-Revised). ADOS-2 is a tool that observes a child's interaction and communication in various situations while playing directly with the child and evaluates how much he or she shows autism tendencies. ADI-R is a test that evaluates not only the current appearance of a child but also how widely he or she has autistic features from his or her childhood through in-depth interviews with parents. The final diagnosis is made by complementary
use of the two tests.

As such, autism spectrum disorder is difficult to diagnose, but it can be commonly found around us. Therefore, people with it were close to us, and they had the weight of the disorder borne by the disabled people behind Woo Young-woo's enthusiasm.

First, parents of children with autism spectrum disorder agreed that it is more difficult to find ‘Woo Young-woo's surrounding people-people who understand and care for people with disabilities’ than 'Woo Young-woo-one of the disabled people’ in our society'. In the drama, lawyer Jung Myung-Seok, Woo Young- woo's boss, was biased against Woo Young-woo who has a disability, but after working with Woo Young-woo, he admitted his misconception and apologized. Choi Soo-Yeon, Woo Young-woo's law school classmate and trainee lawyer, also quietly helped her. As such, lawyers and employees of the law firm, where Woo Young-woo works, admit and help her after going through many things and looking back on their prejudice about her disability.

However, in reality, there are more people who think of people with disabilities as inconvenient beings than helping them. In late July, while Woo Young-woo gained explosive popularity, Korean Air refused to board a passenger with autism spectrum disabilities. A man with autism and his parents were forced to board the plane before takeoff due to the captain's request. According to his
parents, they had informed the flight attendants about their son's disability at the check-in counter and in the waiting room, but the captain made him get off when he did not comply with the crew's request for seating and woke up several times on the plane. What's worse, his parents were told that they had to pay a penalty of 440 euros in the refund process. Also, among some middle school students, 'Woo Young-woo,' the name of the main character in the drama, was used as a word to mock disabled students. Some students used the main character's name as a tease, saying, "Do it like Woo Young-woo" to a classmate with a disability, focusing only on the 'disability'. In addition, the average monthly income of people with autism spectrum disorder is low, and employment is a high wall for them.

With the popularity of the drama 'Extraordinary Attorney Woo', an article about Woo
Young-woo's expected salary became a hot topic. In the drama, it was estimated that Woo Young-woo, a lawyer who graduated from Seoul National University’s Law School and works at a law firm, would earn more than 12 million won before tax. However, the reality of most autistic workers is different. According to the 'Survey on the Status of the disabled' conducted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in 2020, the average monthly income of workers with autism disability was 1,214,000 won. In addition, in the 2020 Life Survey of the Disabled, in which more than about 5,000 people with disabilities participated as a panel, there was no case where among people with intellectual and autistic disabilities who were wage earners, received more than 4 million won per month.

Among them, 46.8% received less than 1 million won per month, and 44.5% received more than 1 million won and less than 2 million won per month.Employment opportunities for people who are autistic have not yet opened. According to the Korea Employment Agency for the Disabled, the employment rate of the autistic disabled was only 28.1 percent last year. In the 2020 Life Survey of the Disabled, 87.7% of the intellectual and autistic disabled said, "My disability limits the jobs I can have." In fact, parents of children with autism said, "In reality, most people with autism disabilities will not be able to live in society even after the age of 20. Most of them are in adult daycare centers and unable to go outside their homes."

In this reality, it is time to think about what we should think and do to live with the disabled in order to lighten the weight of the disability of a disabled person. For this, first, continuous interest and understandingof disability including autism is required. Kim Byung Gun, an infant special education professor at Nazareth University, who advised the drama 'Extraordinary Attorney Woo', said, "

Even if the disabled make a step forward with support for disability, if non-disabled people take a step back, people with disabilities can be hurt." Also, he suggested, "We have to approach each other step by step, and in order for this to be possible, an understanding of differences must precede." As it is important for people to have continued interest and understand disabilities, active effort is also needed.

As an actual example, on April 20, the Special Education Department of Korea National University of Education held a Disabled People's Day event under the title of 'I see the spring light of the wind with you'. Four activities were held at the event. The first activity was 'Online disability comprehension quiz'. It was an online activity to solve quizzes about precautions when meeting a person with a disability.

The second activity was the 'The visual impairment experience'. It was an activity to walk with blind glasses to experience visual impairment and a white cane. The third activity was 'Making braille bookmark'. It was an activity to make bookmarks using tool to stamp braille. The fourth activity was 'Making acrostic poem with the word understanding' and 'Lucky dip'. It was an activity that makes an acrostic poem with the word 'understanding' and receives a prize through drawing lots. Through
these activities, students were able to develop a deep understanding and interest in disability.
 

We listened to the thoughts of a student in the special education department who progressed this event. The student said, "It was the first Disabled People's Day event since the establishment of the special education department in the Korea National University of Education, so there were many trials and errors in the preparation process. However, I was proud that many students participated in this event and I was able to improve the students’ awareness of the disabled a little." In addition, a positive social awareness of disability is needed. In our society, social awareness is an obstacle regardless of the ability of the disabled. For example, when we think about the term 'autism', the
word is discouraging and frustrating for us because it is stigmatized. Kim Byung-gun, an infant special education professor at Nazareth University, pointed out, "No matter how well you mediate or how talented you are like Woo Young-woo, if you are not accepted by society, the effect will be halved."

It is important to change the social perspective about disability. For this, it is necessary to create more opportunities for people with disabilities to move toward the society. In fact, recently, our society and the government's interest in the culture and arts of the disabled has been
growing. In a report by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism conducted on July 21, President Yoon Seok-Yeol ordered, "Secure a lot of exhibition spaces for disabled artists including up-and-coming artists and youn  artists, and increase exhibition opportunities for them significantly." And on August 31, the 'Special Exhibition of Disabled Artists' opened. It was the first art exhibition held
in Cheongwadae since it has been opened to the public. This exhibition, which was conducted by
the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Federation of Culture and Arts for the Disabled, exhibited about 50 works by 50 disabled artists. Artist Bang Doo-young, who has a hearing impairment, said, "The disabled Culture and Arts are the only medium that gives dreams and hopes to the disabled to compete in society," adding, "Thank you for planning this special exhibition at Chunchugwan."

As such, in our society, efforts are needed to live with people with disabilities in various fields as well as culture and art by providing opportunities to go out into the world with dreams and hopes and creating a system where they can be supported. It is certainly a welcome change that social interest in autism spectrum disorder has increased due to the influence of the drama. However, we only saw one Woo Young-woo-one of the disabled people. There are
millions of Woo Young-woos in Korea. We have to create a social environment in which people with all kinds of disabilities can live together.