Independent Living Consideration for Visually Impaired Users in Home Environment

There have always been problems between visually impaired users and their interior space design and elements. The visually impaired dwellers still facing problems in completing their daily tasks and routine. With the huge existing numbers of visually impaired around the globe, and the flaws in home design; designers should consider the human inability while designing homes. This research attempts to give recommendations for better home design that lead to easier living and better interactions for visually impaired users in their home interior spaces and elements. The research question discusses: the difficulties the visually impaired users still have in their interior spaces, the necessary quality improvements in the living skills of the independent visually impaired users within their interior spaces, and the interior space suggestions that may make the daily tasks easier to achieve for the visually impaired dwellers. The main aim of this thesis is to create better orientation and interactions between the visually impaired dwellers and their interior home spaces. The visually impaired daily life difficulties and needs were understood and discussed from the results taken from twenty visually impaired participants, some of the participants are students in Rauf Raif Denktaş Görme Engelliler Özel Eğitim Okulu, the only visually impaired school for children in Nicosia, and some other visually impaired participants around Northern Cyprus. Therefore, this thesis gives some suggestions in home for visually impaired dwellers who face problems and issues in achieving their daily life tasks, that may lead to independency and better orientation without needing help, these interventions allow the visually impaired dwellers to use other senses in orientations for themselves within their interior spaces.