Eight Out of Ten People with Disabilities Find Kiosk Ordering Difficult... "Prefer Ordering Through Staff"

Ministry of Health and Welfare Survey on Disability Discrimination Act
72.3% of Visually Impaired and 61.5% of Wheelchair Users
Prefer Ordering Through Staff

Eight out of ten people with disabilities experience difficulties using unmanned information terminals (kiosks). Most visually impaired individuals still prefer to place orders through staff, according to a recent survey.

On August 8, the Ministry of Health and Welfare released the results of the "2024 Survey on the Implementation of the Act on the Prohibition of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities." This survey was conducted to assess the current state of information accessibility for unmanned information terminals (such as kiosks) ahead of the enforcement of the Act on the Prohibition of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities in January next year. From October last year to January this year, the survey was carried out by the Korea Disabled People’s Development Institute and Matrix Co., Ltd., targeting 4,114 institutions?including public and medical institutions?and 540 people with disabilities.

According to the survey, 161 respondents with disabilities reported significant inconvenience in daily use due to insufficient or lacking accessibility features on kiosks. The most challenging aspect was using unmanned ordering machines (80.1%), followed by unmanned payment machines (38.5%) and ticket vending machines (32.3%). Respondents cited "feeling self-conscious due to delayed ordering" (54.0%), "difficulty locating buttons" (26.1%), and "poor touch recognition" (5.6%) as major difficulties.

As a result, among 277 people with disabilities who had experience using kiosks, 44.8% said they preferred ordering directly from staff over using unmanned devices. This rate is more than twice as high as those who said they preferred unmanned devices (20.6%). In particular, 72.3% of visually impaired respondents and 61.5% of wheelchair users stated a preference for ordering through staff. The reasons for avoiding unmanned devices were multifaceted: "inconvenience for people with disabilities" (37.9%), "difficulty understanding how to use the device" (28.2%), and "faster service from staff" (19.4%).

As measures to improve kiosk accessibility, "deployment of staff or installation of call bells" was cited as most necessary by 78.7% of visually impaired respondents and 64.6% of wheelchair users. However, according to the National Information Society Agency, it is estimated that only 466 kiosks have been certified as barrier-free and fully accessible for people with disabilities.

Among the approximately 4,000 surveyed institutions, 78.7% responded that they were aware of their obligation to ensure information accessibility for kiosks under the revised Act on the Prohibition of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities. In contrast, only 51.1% of people with disabilities responded affirmatively to the same question, which is 27.6 percentage points lower than the institutions. Based on this survey, the government plans to develop "measures to improve the unmanned information terminal system" and prepare guidelines to ensure information accessibility for people with disabilities.