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On April 23, 1997, the Welfare for the Handicapped Act was revised as the Protection Act for Persons with Disabilities in which the quality of life issue was considered as a blue print for a comprehensive understanding for life planning for individuals with concerned. For persons with disabilities, the barrier-free environment is one of the most important aspects related to the quality of life issue. The present research intends to investigate the quality of life for workers with physical disabilities in Taipei city, to identify variables related to barrier-free living style, and to provide suggestions for career planning and daily living counseling in order to improve services for persons with physical disabilities in R.O.C..
This study includes literature review and questionnaire survey. Previous studies concerning concepts quality of life and relationships between quality of life and barrier-free environment were reviewed. This study discussed current welfare policies of Taipei City government and the barrier-free environments situations in the city. Workers with physical disabilities registered in the Office of Labor Service of Taipei City government were subjects of the study. The sampling procedures included to use a survey-guide to check quality of life for 260 workers with physical disabilities to ask their experiences with the barrier-free environment among the 138 returned questionnaires, 123 copies were considered effective. Statistical methods (frequency, percentage mean, standard deviation, Person product-moment correlation) were used to analyze the sampling results.
The results of this survey revealed:
1.The workers with physical disabilities showed a positive response (positive numbers in quality of life index in the Evaluation Table of Survey Guide) in the aspects of social support, satisfaction of working environment, and self-adjustment. However, responses to physical support of working places and domestic environment were negative.
2.Analytical results showed positive correlation in following categories: income vs. social support; income vs. satisfaction of working places; and income vs. self-adjustment. Correlation between work experiences and soical support, satisfaction of working places and self-adjustment were also positive. But correlation between times of job change and social support were negative. Other variations such as seamed irrelevant to quality of life in relation to barrier-free environment.
This survey also showed a strong need in parking spaces for persons with physical disabilities. It is suggested that all the public facilities need to consider the convenience of persons with physical disabilities. Other opinions collected from this survey include: more job opportunities for physical disabilities and complains of inconvenience of city bus services. Suggestions to provide better services for persons with physical disabilities were offered. Hopefully, the city government can consider the results and suggestions of this study to established a barrier-free environment for all individuals with physical disabilities.
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