![Residents and people with developmental disabilities take part in hands-on booths at the 8th Balral Festival in Gangil-dong. [Photo=Holt Children's Services]](https://image.ajunews.com/content/image/2026/04/22/20260422105611636404.jpg)
Holt Gangdong Welfare Center, operated by Holt Children’s Services, said it held the eighth Balral Festival at the Gangil-dong plaza on April 18. The event was organized to mark Disability Day, observed annually on April 20 and established in 1972 to promote understanding of people with disabilities and advance their rights.
People with developmental disabilities, their families and neighborhood residents took part in programs focused on disability awareness and community inclusion. On-site activities included augmentative and alternative communication, or AAC, demonstrations; a visual-impairment experience; and a disability-awareness quiz. Visitors also joined hands-on booths such as ball-toss games and other participatory activities.
AAC refers to communication methods that use picture boards, symbols or electronic devices for people who have difficulty expressing themselves through speech or writing. The center said its use is expanding in South Korea’s support services for people with developmental disabilities.
Other activities included decorating pens, making keychains, a portrait-drawing talent donation by an artist with a developmental disability, and a samulnori percussion performance.
The center said a notable feature of this year’s festival was that some programs were planned and run with direct participation from people with developmental disabilities, reflecting a broader push in welfare services to expand participant-led roles beyond attendance.
Local organizations including the Seoul Metropolitan Gangdong Youth Center and the Korea Welfare Center for the Blind joined the event. The Gangil-dong Community Service Center and police supported on-site safety management, and private sponsors including retailers and restaurant businesses helped with operations.
Participants said the disability-experience programs and activities helped deepen their understanding of disability, the center said.
A center official said, “We have continued to hold events in which the local community participates together to mark Disability Day,” adding, “We plan to keep expanding programs that bring people with developmental disabilities and those without disabilities together.”
Holt Gangdong Welfare Center provides day care, family support and community-integration programs for people with developmental disabilities and regularly runs community-based disability awareness efforts.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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