Geumcheon-gu Removes Store Thresholds for People with Disabilities and Mobility-Impaired Individuals

Enhancing Convenience and Realizing Equality for Mobility-Disadvantaged through Support for Installing Ramps in Small-Scale Facilities

Community Autonomy Committee and Market Merchants Association Conduct Local Awareness Improvement Campaign

Geumcheon-gu (Mayor Yu Seong-hoon) has begun removing thresholds in small-scale facilities to guarantee the mobility rights of mobility-disadvantaged groups such as people with disabilities, pregnant women, and the elderly.

Small thresholds at facilities like restaurants and supermarkets, which non-disabled people can enter without difficulty, can be significant obstacles for some. For wheelchair users with disabilities, even a threshold just a few centimeters high can force them to turn back disappointedly.

Since the enactment of the Act on Guaranteeing Convenience for the Disabled, the Elderly, and Pregnant Women in 1998, facilities above a certain size built thereafter are required to remove level differences at main entrances. However, buildings constructed before the law or small-scale facilities still have thresholds that make access difficult for mobility-disadvantaged individuals such as people with disabilities.

In response, Geumcheon-gu has been implementing the “Creating a Neighborhood Without Thresholds” project since 2020, supporting the installation of ramps in small-scale facilities that fall into legal blind spots.

Over three years, a total of 441 ramps have been installed, receiving high approval from residents and ongoing demands for the project. This year, the ramp installation continues in cooperation with the Geumcheon Disabled Comprehensive Welfare Center.

Small-scale facilities wishing to receive support for ramp installation can apply through the Geumcheon Disabled Comprehensive Welfare Center or the Senior and Disabled Division.

Based on experiences over the past three years, this year Geumcheon-gu plans to create disability-friendly stores equipped with ramps, help call bells, and AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) tools. Through cooperation with the Community Autonomy Committee and Market Merchants Association, a local awareness improvement campaign will be conducted to advance Geumcheon-gu as a disability-friendly city.

Yu Seong-hoon, Mayor of Geumcheon-gu, stated, “Thresholds that are so low they are barely noticeable to non-disabled people can become high obstacles that cause mobility-disadvantaged individuals to give up going out. We will continue to do our best to support ramp installation in small-scale facilities that fall into legal blind spots to improve mobility rights and convenience for people with disabilities.”