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Recently implemented ADAAG guidelines require significant changes.
By Steve Aust
On March 15, updated Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) took effect. These govern the construction, alteration and identification of ADA-covered facilities – commercial facilities, state- and- local-government buildings and other entities that provide public accommodations. The regulations occurred through a joint consensus reached by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the International Building Code and the ADA Advisory Council.
Currently, facilities may observe either new or previous ADAAG requirements. However, on March 15, 2012, all facilities must comply with the new standards. Transportation facilities (airports, train and bus depots), which are administered by the Department of Transportation, and federal property, which the General Services Administration or the Department of Defense oversees, already comply with ADAAG standards.
Recently, I attended a workshop that pertained to ADA regulations at Cincinnati’s Michael Shuster Architects. Craig Berger, the Society for Environmental Graphic Design’s (SEGD) director of education and a member of the ANSI board that dev- eloped the standard, and Dixie Graphics’ sales executive Matt Williams led the program. The following is a summary of the key ADA regulations Berger out-lined, as well as common ADA-sign materials and production processes.
-->To read the DOJ regulations’ entire treatment of ADA signs, go to www.ada.gov/2010ADAstandards_index.htm and read Chapter 7, “Communication Elements and Features.”
Typography requirements
According to Department of Justice (DOJ) statistics, approximately 2.5 million Americans are legally blind. This means, even with corrective lenses, the person’s visual acuity is less than 20/200, or line of vision measures less than 20°. Millions more suffer with limited vision brought on by such conditions as glaucoma and macular degeneration.
Although braille has historically been perceived as a visually impaired person’s means of receiving information, the DOJ reports only 5% of visually impaired people use it to read. Rather, most read tactile copy.
Therefore, the typeface, character width and color contrast, among other factors, represent key elements that ADAAG regulations address. Here’s a summary of some of the new rules’ key components.
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