장애인복지법 제15조 개정에 따른 대안입법 방향에 관한 질적 연구

The purpose of this study is to review the direction of related alternative legislation according to the amendment of Article 15 of the Act on Welfare of Persons with Disabilities. In-depth interviews were conducted with 7 interested parties and experts and analyzed with qualitative research method. The analysis results are summarized as follows. First, the interview participants recognized that Article 15 brought a low disability registration rate of people with mental disabilities and discrimination against them within the whole disabilities group. Second, the participants found that the main factors that caused discrimination against people with mental disabilities in services were political isolation from welfare issues for them due to the separation of the service delivery system and the exclusion due to administrative practice out of the original meaning of the article 15. Third, the participants recognized the effect of the amendment of Article 15 as follows: symbolic abolition of legal and institutional discrimination against people with mental disabilities, preparation of grounds for expansion of welfare for them, and improving the efficiency of welfare service provision. Fourth, the participants recognized the problems that could arise from the amendment of Article 15 as follows: limitation in substantive changes due to administrative practices, potential conflicts with people with other types of disabilities, and service discrimination between people with mental illness and people with mental disabilities. Fifth, the participants recognized the direction of revision of related laws as follows: Fully integration of mental health welfare to disability system, partial integration of welfare part from mental health delivery system, and enactment of the Act of Welfare of Persons with Mental Disabilities as special law of Act on Welfare of Persons with Disabilities. As a conclusion of this study, we suggested that whether the amendment of Article 15 can contribute to the promotion of the welfare of the people with mental disabilities depends on how flexible they are to adjust and supplement the principles and limitations of the Act on Welfare of Persons with Disabilities and Act on the Improvement of Mental Health and The Support for Welfare Services for Mental Patients, which are difficult to harmonize in the current law.