KarunaNews Story

Jang Ik-sun wrote his master’s thesis one blink at a time. About half a million times, to be exact. Each blink was deliberate, selected with precision to form words, sentences, and ultimately a 70,000-character academic paper that earned a master’s degree in social welfare from Gwangju University. Using a screen-mirroring tool, he was able to display his Galaxy smartphone screen on his Windows desktop monitor. With Google Docs open on both devices, he used his phone’s predictive keyboard to type, while simultaneously viewing and editing the full document on his desktop. Diagnosed with progressive muscular dystrophy at five, he gradually lost almost all physical movement and now relies on a ventilator to breathe. His thesis, "An Autoethnography of a Bedridden Muscle Disability Activist Using a Ventilator," explores how disability is shaped not only by physical impairments but by pervasive societal barriers.