Autistic Korean Becomes U.S. Lawyer

An autistic Korean-American passed the bar examination in the U.S. The man is Cho Young-sik (27) who lives in Pacific Palisades, California.

Suffering from a side effect of Bacille Calmette-Gurin (BCG) just after turning one year old, Cho had a large part of his left armhole removed and showed symptoms of autism while struggling with tuberculosis for five years afterwards.

Behind Cho’s success story are touching efforts made by his father, Cho Won-young (58). Cho’s father left a laundry he owned to his mother and devoted himself to his son by accompanying the boy to and from school.

Cho, who passed the exam in his first try after enduring an arduous schedule while sleeping only four hours a day, expressed gratitude that he could be in his position now with the help of his father. In particular, Cho’s younger sister, Cho Gyung-sik (who graduated from the law school of U.C. Berkeley) added pleasure to Cho’s family by being accepted as a clerk of the Federal Court, the position which law school graduates from the U.S. most covet.