장애인과 비장애인의 이동패턴 연구

For everyone living on the planet Earth, there are 24 hours in a day. How you use that limited time indicates how you lead your daily life and what kind of lifestyle you have.

In general, the more a society develops, and the more abundant life is, the faster, the farther, and the more diversely it moves. Because mobility is the basis of productive activities for life and the formation of relationships with others, individual mobility and movement patterns are essential capital for living and mediating social activities.

‘Movement’ is not given to everyone on the same conditions. There are differences and inequalities between individuals and groups. In particular, persons with disabilities are considered one of the most vulnerable groups. Currently, in Korean society, persons with disabilities are defined as ‘mobility disadvantaged persons,’ and are subject to legal guarantees for mobility under the Act on Promotion of the Transportation Convenience of Mobility Disadvantaged Persons, and the Act on the Prohibition of Discrimination Against Disabled Persons, Remedy Against Infringement of Their Rights, etc.’

The 'Research Group for Social Issues of Vulnerable Classes' of the Center for Computational Social Science compared and analyzed the movement characteristics of disabled and non-disabled persons by analyzing the time and amount of time of movement between the two groups through the movement time data of the disabled and non-disabled.

This study utilized data of adults 20 years of age or older during the 2014 Time Use Survey of Statistics Korea to obtain the movement patterns (time period and amount of movement) of disabled persons from a time perspective. The Statistics Korea's Time Use Survey is the basic data that measures how persons spend 24 hours per day to quantify their lifestyle and quality of life. The survey has been conducted once every five years since 1999.

The 2014 Time Use Survey was conducted in July, September, and December, respectively, and collected personal and household information and time information over two days of 27,000 persons aged 10 years and over in about 12,000 households nationwide. Time information was collected through the creation of a ‘time diary’ in which each respondent personally recorded their actions as if in a diary every 10 minutes for two days. The time diary is a form of recording the main behaviors of each respondent, simultaneous behaviors, the location and means of transport, and information on the persons who were with them.

The research team verified the temporal and spatial movement patterns of disabled persons in wheelchairs. As a result, it was found that the mobility rate of non-disabled persons peaked at 08:00 and 18:30, while that of disabled persons peaked at 10:00 and 17:30. Similarly on weekends, the mobility rate of non-disabled persons showed a steady increase from 08:00, but those with disabilities started earlier than non-disabled persons and showed a sharp decline after 10:00. The distinction between the disabled and the nondisabled is clear at the time period of movement, regardless of weekdays and weekends.

In comparison with the amount of movement time, it was found that it was less for disabled persons than non-disabled persons. Specifically, when a person has a disability, the total amount of movement time and that of weekends and weekdays decreases.

It was confirmed that the difference in the amount of movement time between the disabled and the non-disabled was large, particularly on weekends. The results of this research raise social issues about the lives of persons with disabilities and imply policy suggestions to promote the normalization of mobility for persons with disabilities.