The purpose of this study is to understand features and the present situation of youth
training facilities operating programs for young adults with disabilities. For this, data
obtained from 52 facilities operating programs whose main participants are young adults
with special needs was analyzed based on program plans for teenagers which were
provided by nationwide youth training facilities in Korea. The following showed the results
from that analysis.
First, as operational characteristics of training facilities, the facilities were concentrated
in metropolitan areas in terms of regional distribution and were established mostly as
municipal and district centers in terms of setup. The training center was the most
prevalent facility type, and the local government as the body of operation was the most
common. The distributions of facility size were typically in the range of 1,000 m2 or
greater to less than 5,000 m2, and 10,000 m2 or greater to less than 100,000 m2. The
majority of facilities were likely to use subsidies for execution of the necessary budget.
Secondly, as the characteristics of the training facility program, most of the programs
ran throughout the year. In terms of the major type of operation, the facilities did not
need participants to stay in a facility for training during the entire period of training
time. Disabled youths accounted for most of the participants in the program. Programs
for social interactions with ordinary students and cultural arts were shown as the
predominant fields of activity. The objectives of activities were learning skills of social
inclusion and socialization, and the expected results were independent living and integration of the disabled youths in a local community. The number of participants in
each program was analyzed to be typically about 11 to 20 young adults with disabilities.
On the basis of the above results, this study discussed how to promote organizations
operating lifelong education programs for young adults with disabilities.