Abstract
For those with disabilities, the residential area is the primary place to adapt the disabilities. Since the quality of the area gives a critical impact on their quality of life, it is essential to finding the measures to create the residential environment that supports their independence. In this regard, this study aimed to compare and analyze the interior elements of the houses that hinder the independence of the physically handicapped in the rural and urban areas, and conducted a survey on a total of 80 physically challenged in Seoul and Yeongwol (40 for each area). As a result, the respondents answered that the houses where they are currently living are hindering their independence regardless of area, and there were regional differences in the level of inconvenience with the size of living room, size of utility room, location of room, lighting and heating environment, ventilation system, deteriorated wallpapers and finishing materials, threshold and floor level difference and humidity control. This study has significance by providing the realistic measures to improve the housing environment of the physically challenged living in the rural and urban areas to be customized to them to increase their quality of life.
