You're absolutely right.While that does work to hide it, I would prefer an option to disable it all together. I find may times using the keyboard and swiping up from the bottom row, I usually end up bringing up the home screen. Actually, an option to enable a gesture "dead zone" at the bottom of the screen (there's already an option for the top) might be a good compromise too, if devs don't want an option to fully disable.
Sorry, i thought you just wanted to hide it.