Meet the Real Life Woo Young Woo, Attorney Haley Moss

 At this point, everybody who watches KDrama may have ready know Attorney Woo Young You. The extraordinary lawyer with autistic spectrum disorder.


But there is a real life Woo Young Woo out there, someone who understands all too well what Park Eun Bin's character is going through. And she tells everything she thinks was done right on the show.


Meet Haley Moss. The first lawyer with ASD from Florida. And she mentions how the show is very relatable to her.
As the first known lawyer with ASD to be signed to the Florida bar, Haley says she has experienced the same stigma. Such as in the first episode when Young Woo's boss focused on her autism rather than her very high qualifications. 
Some people who have autistic kids treated me like a little kid, not as one of their colleagues. Even though I went to the same law school, passed the same bar exam and met the same qualifications for the profession, I often felt that I had to prove myself more to get the same respect and opportunity that anybody else is getting.

— Haley Moss

Some colleagues may have judged her abilities based on her difficulty with sensory overload and with prioritization. So like Young Woo, she also uses noise-chancing headphones.

I’m sensitive to noise, so I always wear large noise-canceling headphones just as the attorney Woo does in the drama. Little kids’ cries and screams make me anxious. With a sensory overload, I feel like my body is trembling to fight the noise off. I keep saying to myself, ‘I have to get out of here.’ I always try to find somewhere quiet.

— Haley Moss

It is also due to extreme sensitivity that Woo Young Woo cannot eat anything other than gimbap.

She eats a lot of same food every day. That‘s something that I do.

Her obsession with whales is also very familiar to her.

Her passion for whales makes her really excited. This kind of obsessive joy is something I experienced a lot from drawing.

— Haley Moss


Haley also sees similar experiences as a lawyer in the drama. Her photographic memory is a great advantage and she finds that she can easily connect with people with same experiences.

Those who have similar life experiences as me tend to have trust in me. I can relate with them better than other lawyers do. Also, I tend to break things down when talking about a case and this made some clients understand legal terms better.

— Haley Moss

The Florida lawyer is very grateful that the drama is shedding light on the lives of people with ASD but without making Woo Young Woo as just someone to teach the audience about autism.

In the drama, Woo messes up, learns and grows along with others. What usually happens in media is that we focus on autistic people who don’t seem like humans with full personality and interests. We don‘t get the same opportunity.

— Haley Moss

Haley says she would like to see more people with ASD involved in the media production process of such shows to give them more opportunities as well. Given that the series might have a US remake, Haley Moss might be even be given an opportunity to consult with the production. 

Extraordinary Attorney Woo might have a US remake

Have you watched the drama? 

Source KoreaHerald 

______________

For collaborations, please send an email to: noonachronicles@gmail.com 

FOLLOW NOONA CHRONICLES:

Apop Books - enjoy Korean literature translated in English!
Order here
Do you find my blog interesting and entertaining? I would appreciate if you could support my blog by donating. This would make it easier for me to shift to my own domain in the future.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

My Demon's Cha Chung Hwa is Pregnant!

Marry My Husband Being Boycotted Amidst Latest Park Min Young Controversy

Alleged Kakao Talk Conversation Between Ahn Hyo Seop and Han Seo Hee Revealed, Netizens React