E – 1769 ADA Paths – Part 2 Practical Design Requirements

In September of 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice published the “2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design,” a comprehensive set of standards about designing buildings to facilitate their use by the handicapped. The publication contained two parts, one establishing accessibility laws for facilities built with public funds, and one providing guidelines for public buildings built by private entities. Since that time, numerous model codes, building codes and published standards have been released, based in part or in whole on those standards, creating some confusion as to what exactly is required. This course is a comprehensive overview of the original guidelines and their intent.

The “2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design,” though quite lengthy, have been broken out and grouped into nine categories of information, presented in the following sequence. A short series introduction discusses the creation of the standards and their applicability as regulations. This course then focuses on the additional parts of the standards addressing; accessible routes and pathways through facilities, specific requirements for specific spaces and equipment and hardware designed for use by the handicapped.

An attempt was made to simplify these regulations and present them in an orderly and comprehensible fashion. Hopefully, the resulting information will be of use in designing public accommodations and commercial facilities, making them readily accessible to, and usable by individuals with disabilities.

Since the “2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design” was published, numerous building codes have been released, based in part or in whole on those standards. But there still is confusion as to what exactly is legally required.

The standards themselves have been grouped into nine categories of information, roughly following the path used to gain access to and use facilities. This second portion of the course focuses on simplifying the central third of the standards, which address accessible routes and pathways through facilities, definitive requirements for specific spaces typically found inside facilities and equipment and hardware especially designed for, or easier to use by the handicapped.

In short, in this portion we address making it possible for the disabled to move through a building and use the equipment and hardware found inside.