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Physical Accommodations

Under Title III, any new building first occupied after January 26, 1993 is required to meet full ADA standards (unless the building plans had been com-pleted before January 26, 1992). The following are among the requirements that new buildings are expected to meet:

  • Doorways must be wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs; doors must be easy to open.
  • Restrooms must be equipped with adequately wide stalls, grab bars, and sinks and towel dispensers easily accessible for someone in a wheelchair.
  • Pay phones must be provided at more than one height, and phones with amplifiers should also be available.
  • Adequate parking spaces should be set aside to accommodate disabled patrons.
  • Elevators must have Braille numbers and visual as well as audible operation signals.
  • Alarm systems must be audible and visible.

Existing facilities that are being remodeled (and in some cases those that are not) must make sure that alterations are ADA-compliant, as long as such changes are deemed reasonable, or, in the words of the legislation, “readily achievable.” An alteration is deemed readily achievable when it can be done relatively easily and without much expense. It might not be structurally or economically feasible for a public facility with no elevator to install one, for example, but it probably is feasible to install ramps, handrails, and grab bars. Shelving in stores, telephones mounted lower on the wall, soap dispensers in bathrooms, and brighter lights are all things that can be added with little difficulty or undue expense. In cases in which alterations are difficult or impossible, alternatives can be incorporated instead. Examples include providing taped lectures of inaccessible gallery exhibits or providing a water cooler or reachable paper cups instead of installing a new accessible drinking fountain

As for new buildings, the costs of incorporating ADA-compliant accessibility features has been estimated to be less than one percent of overall construction costs. Thus, it is unlikely that the owners of a building currently under construction would be able to make a case against accessibility. Nor should they want to; as more disabled people enter both the consumer market (as tourists, for example) and the workforce, it benefits building owners to make their structures ADA-compliant.


Inside Physical Accommodations