By Lu Ann Franklin
Reprinted with Permission
from the Times, Munster, Indiana

President Bush has asked Kang, a special education administrator, professor and advocate for the disabled, to be part of his proposed White House Office for Faith-Based and Community Initiative.

This program, which must be approved by Congress, is designed "to help religious and nonprofit organizations to empower people, the disadvantaged, people with social problems," Kang said. It would put federal funds into private rather than solely public or governmental assistance programs.

In the coming months, Kang will work with Bush officials to persuade Congress to approve the plan. If the program is OK’d, Kang’s role would be with funding programs for the disabled and those requiring rehabilitation. That latter group could include those with drug and alcohol problems, he said.

Kang is well known internationally for his work with and advocacy for the disabled. Among his many achievements is founding the Education and Rehabilitation Exchange Foundation International.

The challenges facing the disabled are something Kang understands well because he is blind.

In addition to the Bush initiative, Kang has been nominated by six high-profile individuals to serve as assistant secretary for special education and rehabilitation with the U.S. Department of Education. Letters of recommendation for Kang were sent to Education Secretary Roderick Paige from former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh; Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind; Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind; former Sen. Robert Dole; Frank Devlyn, president of Rotary International; and William J. vanden Heuvel, chairman of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute.

Kang is currently one of three people being considered for this post.

"One out of 10 schoolchildren is disabled," Kang said.

Although the education of disabled children is handled at the local level, he said, "The federal government should give directions and guidelines and creative leadership."

In addition, Kang said, many disabled people are underemployed.

"Only 30 percent are employed," he said. "We need to stimulate all public and private sectors to provide employment and promote accessibility and technology.

"The federal government should be helpful for complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act," he added.

In his letter to Paige, Thornburgh said Kang "provides an extraordinary example of inspiration. He has not only overcome his disability, but has also converted it into a positive asset. He has brought human dignity, a feeling of self-worth and a fighting spirit to become self-supporting, productive citizens to many disabled people."

Born in a small town near Seoul, Korea, Kang began losing his sight at age 14 after a soccer accident caused retinal detachment. A year earlier, Kang’s father died. His mother succumbed to a stroke less than two years after his accident. Then, Kang’s sister died less than 18 months after their mother.

At the time, few doors were open to the blind in Korea, but Kang was determined to achieve something no other blind person had before-college education. He persuaded the Korean Ministry of Education: change its policies and allow him to attend Seoul’s Yonsei University. He became the first blind person to graduate from a Korean university. That was in 1972.

The next year, he enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh on a Rotary Foundation Scholarship and earned a master’s in special education. By 1976, Kang had earned another master’s in rehabilitation counseling and a doctorate in special education from the university.

Kang’s first book, the autobiography "A Light in My Heart" published in 1987, has been translated into six languages and made into a talking book by the U.S. Library of Congress. In addition, it has been adapted into a TV drama and a motion picture in Korea.

That book first brought Kang to the attention of the Bush family when former President George Bush read it. It was the elder Bush who signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Over the ensuing years the Bush and Kang families have become friends. Kang and his wife, Kyong Sook, attended George W. Bush’s presidential inauguration in January.

Kang currently serves as supervisor of special education with the Gary school district and recently became an adjunct professor at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago.

His disability advocacy work includes serving as vice chairman of the World Committee on Disability, among other organizations.

Kang, who has been a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Munster for 21 years, credits his faith with being able to overcome life’s problems.

"God has a special plan for my life," he said.