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Accessible

by the WBDG Accessible Committee

Last updated: 08-13-2009

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Overview

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal..."
- Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

In daily life, as we maneuver through society, nothing is more important yet taken for granted more often than access. For millions of people with disabilities, the access that most of us take for granted is difficult, impossible, or achievable only with the intervention of a third party. We live in what is considered an independent society, yet independent access to programs, facilities, and employment are not easily achievable by many. Physical access is historically the arbiter of success and the source of opportunity in education, employment, and social freedom. Thus, accessibility is a civil rights issue for many people with disabilities and for our society. See the History of Accessible Building Design to learn more.

Definition and Goals of Accessible Design

Illustration of the range of disabled people

(Courtesy of Bill Brack)

If we live long enough, all of us may eventually have a disability that requires a modification of the built environment. The number of Americans having a disability is projected to grow rapidly as our population ages. One outgrowth of this is that the line between who is and who is not a person with a disability will steadily erode. We must redefine and redirect our traditional understanding of designing for accessibility to not only include those persons permanently disabled, but also those temporarily disabled due to an injury as well as any other potentially debilitating condition.

The Accessible branch of the WBDG is designed primarily to provide insight and raise awareness on accessible design issues. For information about compliance with accessibility guidelines and standards for a particular government or public facility, contact the Department of Justice or the U.S. Access Board. The Access Board is an independent federal agency devoted to accessibility for people with disabilities. Key responsibilities of the Board include developing and maintaining accessibility requirements for the built environment, transit vehicles, telecommunications equipment, and electronic and information technology; providing technical assistance and training on these guidelines and standards; and enforcing accessibility standards for federally funded facilities. For additional resources, see the Access Board's Links Page.

Principles and a process that support accessible design include:

Note: Information in these Accessible pages must be considered together with other design objectives and within a total project context in order to achieve quality, high-performance buildings.

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Emerging Issues

Revision of ABA and ADA Accessibility Guidelines

The U.S. Access Board's guidelines issued under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) have been completely updated and revised. The ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) cover the construction and alteration of facilities in the private sector (places of public accommodation and commercial facilities) and the public sector (state and local government facilities). The accessibility guidelines issued under the ABA primarily address facilities in the federal sector and others designed, built, altered, or leased with federal funds. The guidelines under both laws have been combined into one rule entitled Americans with Disabilities Act and Architectural Barriers Act Accessibility Guidelines that contains three parts: a scoping document for ADA facilities, a scoping document for ABA facilities, and a common set of technical criteria that the scoping sections will reference. As a result, the requirements for both ADA and ABA facilities will be made more consistent. The updated guidelines were published as a final rule in the Federal Register in July of 2004. This provides information on the adoption of enforceable standards based on these guidelines under the ADA and ABA.

The federal agencies are revising their standards so that they are consistent with the updated guidelines. For the ADA, the responsible agencies are the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). The responsible agencies for the ABA are the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the General Services Administration (GSA), and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). Until an agency revises its standards, the current standards will remain in effect. The updated guidelines have been adopted by the General Services Administration for Federal ABA facilities other than postal, housing, and military facilities, by the Department of Transportation for transportation facilities, and by the United States Postal Service for postal facilities. The updated guidelines have not yet been adopted by the DOJ for places of public accommodation, commercial facilities, and all other state and local government facilities, other than transportation. The updated guidelines also have not been adopted by HUD or the DOD. For more information, contact the U.S. Access Board.

Building Information Modeling

A Building Information Model (BIM) is a digital representation of physical and functional characteristics of a facility. As such, it serves as a shared knowledge resource for information about a facility forming a reliable basis for decisions during its life cycle from inception onward. BIM has the potential to truly integrate accessibility into a project.

Wheeled Anthropometry

Anthropometry is the study of the dimensions and abilities of the human body. The IDEA Center in Buffalo started a major long range program to establish a database on the anthropometry of wheeled mobility in 1999. This program was initiated as part of the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Universal Design at Buffalo. The U.S. Access Board also began supporting the effort in 2001.

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Relevant Codes and Standards

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Major Resources

WBDG

Historic Preservation–Comply with Accessibility Requirements

Federal Mandates, Legislation, etc.

Organizations

Federal Agencies

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Related Resource Pages
View Resource Page Index
WBDG Services Construction Criteria Base