As the very first time in Korea, 11of the disabled e-sports referee have qualified their licenses. For establishing basis for the e-sports for the disabled and expanding the opportunities for employment of the disabled, ‘Koreae-Sports Association for the Disabled (KeSPAD)’ and ‘Korea Employment Agency for the Disabled (KEAD)’ conducted the e-sports referee training course for the disabled, and these 11 people obtained the qualification as the e-sports referees for the disabled.
Among these 11 referees, 6 people are the severely disabled, and 4 of them are wheel chair users. These referees will be making decisions in the International e-Sports Meets of the Disabled (IeSMoD), which is the very first international e-sports event for the disabled held from September 20 to24 , as well as other e-sports events in the future.
The referee training course for the disabled conducted this time is operated by the collaboration of KeSPAD and KEAD. The chairman of the KEAD said, “Through the referee training program at this moment, it is meaningful that we are expanding the opportunities of occupation for the disabled to the range of the culture and sports field, which will allow diversifying and professionalizing the range of occupation for the disabled.” Also, the president of the KeSPAD stated, “With this e-sports referee training program for the disabled as the beginning, KeSPAD will attempt to contribute to establishing basis of e-sports and cultivating e-sports teams for the disabled in the future.”
Besides, e-sport, as the type of sports which compete through electronic devices such as PC, is a lot easier for the disabled who has difficulty in mobilizing physically. With this advantage, it is preferred for many of the disabled as one of leisure activities. Also, it has possibility to be developed as functional games for the purposes of rehabilitation in the future.
Quote: http://www.fomos.kr/board/board.php?mode=read&keyno=119535&db=issue
