Labor ministry announces mental-health guide for disabled workers

The labor ministry said Thursday that the Employment Development Institute of the Korea Employment Agency for Persons with Disabilities released an easy-to-read mental-health guide for disabled workers. The guide is intended to help workers check their mental health at work and in daily life and use needed information more easily.

The guide, "Protecting My Mental Health," concisely reworks a 2023 resource for people with developmental disabilities with simpler language and illustrations. Sosohan Communication, a social enterprise that produces accessible information for people with disabilities and others, participated in creating it.

It offers guidance on responding to anxiety, depression, anger, trauma and addiction, caring for mental health in daily life, and related specialist organizations.

QR codes link readers to informational and case-based videos for each type of mental-health problem. The institute will distribute the guide to workplaces across South Korea that employ large numbers of people with disabilities and post a PDF on the agency's main website.

"Everyone should be able to understand and care for their own mind. We will further expand easy-to-understand materials to improve access to information for disabled workers," Lee Dong-young, head of the institute, said.