Abstract
The purpose of the study is to determine the actual demand for the elimination of architectural barriers among senior citizens in their place of residence and also in its immediate environment in Poland. The research covered a group of people in the post-productive age, living in the Lower Silesia voivodship in Poland. Different research methods were used in the study, primarily including the public opinion survey based on a questionnaire as well as statistical analyses. The cross-tabulation analysis of differences in quality characteristics was performed using Pearson’s chi-square test (χ2 test of independence) or Fisher’s exact test, when the expected number was lower than five. As a post hoc analysis, checking the nature of differences between the studied groups, the analyses were carried out using the method by Baesley and Schumacker. For all analyses, the maximum permissible error class I α = 0.05 was adopted, whereas p ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The research revealed that a much larger group of people aged 55 and older suffers from mobility limitations than the ones resulting from disability certificates, thus confirming the assumption that along with the respondents’ age, their mobility limitations intensify, resulting in the need for assistance while moving outside their houses/apartments.
Highlights
Architectural barriers stand for all obstacles occurring in a building and in its immediate environment, which due to technical or construction solutions or usage conditions make it impossible or difficult for people suffering from mobility limitations, such as, e.g., the elderly, people with disabilities, or people moving with a stroller [1]
In Poland, solving the problems of persons with disabilities, i.e., eliminating architectural barriers, which prevent or impede the disabled freedom of movement remains the task of county authorities and is co-funded by the National Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled People (PFRON)
A much larger group of people aged 55 and older has mobility limitations than the ones resulting from disability certificates
Summary
Architectural barriers stand for all obstacles occurring in a building and in its immediate environment, which due to technical or construction solutions or usage conditions make it impossible or difficult for people suffering from mobility limitations, such as, e.g., the elderly, people with disabilities, or people moving with a stroller [1]. In Poland, solving the problems of persons with disabilities, i.e., eliminating architectural barriers, which prevent or impede the disabled freedom of movement remains the task of county authorities (the local government unit in Poland) and is co-funded by the National Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled People (PFRON). The primary objective of the fund is to create conditions which facilitate full participation of the disabled in professional and social life [2]. The fund, supports only people with a disability certificate, not everyone who, needs such help. The actual scale of the problem remains pure conjecture. It is worth emphasizing the problem of existing spatial diversity in terms of satisfying social needs determining the population living standard, including persons with disabilities [3,4,5,6]
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