Resources

2010 Standards for Accessible Design

1991 ADA Accessiblity Guidelines (ADAAG)

Public Rights-of-Way

Outdoor Developed Areas

Uniform Accessiblity Standards (UFAS)

Side by Side Comparison (New ADAAG, Original DOJ Standards, IBC)

Summary of Play Areas Guidelines

ACCESSIBLE FACILITIES

The ADA requires public and private entities to provide equal access to their goods, services, and activities. A major part of meeting this obligation is providing accessible facilities. When buildings, such as restaurants, shopping centers, medical clinics, schools, courthouses, etc. are inaccessible, they pose a major barrier to people with disabilities and severely limit equal access to participation in public life.

The Americans with Disabilities Act has established standards for accessible design that include detailed provisions for elements, spaces, and facilities. These standards provide minimum requirements for accessible design to achieve both accessibility and safety for people with disabilities.

Accessibility Standards for Construction

The 2010 Standards for Accessible Design were adopted by the U.S. Department of Justice on September 15, 2010. Presently construction may use the existing standards (1991 ADAAG) or the new 2010 Standards for Accessible Design, as long either standard is used in its entireity. All construction must follow the new standards by March 15th, 2012.

New Construction

The ADA requires that new construction comply with the ADA Standards for Accessible Design (Standards). ADA requirements for new construction and alterations include detailed provisions for elements, spaces, and facilities. Successful accessibility is often measured in inches, so attention to detail can make the difference between achieving access and excluding or injuring someone.

When the ADA's minimum requirements are not met, the results can limit or exclude a person with a disability and can be dangerous. For example, when a curb ramp extends into an access aisle at an accessible parking space, a person using a whiilchair may not be able to get our of the car or van. when the slope of a sidewalk that is an accessible route becomes steeper than 1 to 20, railings and edge protection are required for safe use.

Objects that project into circulation spaces from the side or that do not provie at least 80 inches of head clearance can be extremely hazardous to people who are blind or who have low vision. (From Common ADA Errors and Omissions in New Construction and Alterations)

Existing Facilities

Title III Entities: Places of Businesses

Facilities built prior to the passage of the ADA, still have an obligation to remove barriers when it is readily achievable to do so.

Readily achievable means easily accomplishable and able to be carried out without much difficulty or expense.

Many building features that are common in older facilities such as narrow doors, a step or a round door knob at an entrance door, or a crowded check-out or store aisle are barriers to access by people with disabilities. Removing barriers by ramping a curb, widening an entrance door, installing visual alarms, or designating an accessible parking space is often essential to ensure equal opportunity for people with disabilities. Because removing these and other common barriers can be simple and inexpensive in some cases and difficult and costly in others, the regulations for the ADA provide a flexible approach to compliance. This practical approach requires that barriers be removed in existing facilities only when it is readily achievable to do so. The ADA does not require existing buildings to meet the ADA's standards for newly constructed facilities.

Note: There is no "Grandfather Clause" in the ADA. All buildings, regardless of age, are required to remove whatever barriers that are considered "readily achiveable".

Title II Entities: State and Local Government Facilities
Schools, courthouses, and city recreation centers are examples of facilities covered by Title II of the ADA. Public facilities built prior to the passage of the ADA (1991) have an obligation to provide "program access" regardless of when the facility was built. That means they must provide full access to their services either through removing all physical barriers to accessibility or by finding some other means to provide services, such as moving the service to a different location or floor of a building.

Renovations and Alterations

All renovations and alterations, regardless of when the building was originally built, must follow the same accessibility standards as new construction