福祉施設および大型ショッピングセンターにおける移動・検索方法からみた視覚障害者のトイレ利用実態

抄録

 This study targets "welfare facilities" and "large shopping centers" used by the visually impaired and focuses on methods of "maneuvering to and searching for" concerning restroom environments for each facility.
 This study checked for the presence of differences for visually impaired individuals with differing attributes as well as for different facilities, targeting processes such as how visually impaired individuals reach the restroom entrance, how they find open restroom booths, and how they look for fixtures and devices in the restroom booths like the cleaning buttons.
 This study also clarified the influence of relationships between visually impaired individuals and their companions, the number of people in user groups, and the usage purpose and scale of the facilities upon methods of maneuvering to and searching for restrooms.
 The results of analysis confirmed the following points.

 1. Half of the respondents could not read braille even though they had received training. Also, all respondents were visually impaired individuals over 20 years old.
 2. Regarding the method of maneuvering to a restroom within welfare facilities and large shopping centers, over half of the respondents had a companion guide them. This is particularly prominent in large shopping centers. However, in shopping centers with large floor areas, it is also common practice for sighted individuals to go to restrooms together with a companion. Thus, it is difficult to consider the practice of "having a companion as a guide" to be a "special method of maneuvering" for visually impaired individuals only.
 3. Large shopping centers also add the additional conditions of large restroom interiors, multiple restroom booths, and confusion. As such, over half of large shopping center visitors rely on guidance from a companion all the way up to an open restroom booth.
 4. On the other hand, for welfare facility users, even people who rely on companions to guide them up to the restroom will look for open restroom booths on their own. Most of the companions were guide helpers, and reasons given for this include, "I feel bad about having to have someone guide me all the way to the inside of the restroom." Concern for"other people" is influential in this.