Access to community resources, buildings, and services is a right Americans are afforded. But ensuring equal access can be challenging, especially when more than one in four adults in the United States have a disability, per the Centers for Disease Control. Disability rights are civil rights that protect people with disabilities across several areas of public life.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990 and was later amended in 2008. The public law was reformatted and published in volume 42 of the United States Code to make it more accessible. There are five sections, called titles, within the ADA that outline the requirements organizations must follow to be compliant. The five titles cover employment, state and local government services, public transit, businesses open to the public, and telecommunications.
What is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?
The built environment affects how people with disabilities engage with services. The ADA prohibits discrimination based on someone’s disabilities, similar to other federal civil rights legislation that protects discrimination based on race, color, sex, national origin, age, and religion.
The ADA website lists three categories that people with disabilities may fall under:
- Physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities
- History or record of impairment (such as cancer in remission)
- Perceived by others as having an impairment (for example, scars from a severe burn)
Major life activities are considered daily actions, including the body’s internal processes. Some examples include:
- Eating, sleeping, speaking, and breathing
- Walking, standing, lifting, and bending
- Thinking and concentrating
- Seeing and hearing
- Working, reading, learning, and communicating
- Circulation, reproduction, and operation of individual organs
Disabilities vary, with some visible and some not. Examples of disabilities include cancer, diabetes, post-traumatic stress disorder, HIV, autism, cerebral palsy, deafness or hearing loss, blindness or low vision, epilepsy, mobility disabilities that require the use of a wheelchair, walker, or cane, intellectual disabilities, major depressive disorder, and traumatic brain injury.
How Does the ADA Apply to the Built Environment?
Businesses and nonprofits that are open to the public and commercial facilities must comply with the requirements of the ADA. Businesses and nonprofits—including restaurants, hotels, retail stores, movie theaters, private schools, hospitals and medical centers, day care centers, gyms, and organizations offering courses or examinations —must comply with Title III. Title III is also what holds commercial facilities like office buildings, warehouses, and factories to the ADA Standards for Accessible Design.
It outlines what constitutes a discriminatory action in public accommodations, as well as requirements for commercial buildings for new construction and building alterations. Any new construction built after Jan. 26, 1993, must be designed and constructed to be accessible unless structural limitations make it impossible.
For building alterations that affect the facility’s usability, changes must be made to ensure the altered areas remain accessible to people with disabilities, including people who use wheelchairs. Renovations within the key parts of a building that serve a main function, such as paths, restrooms, phones, and drinking fountains, should be accessible unless there are unreasonable costs to the project budget.
Elevators are also not needed in buildings with less than three stories or less than 3,000 square feet per floor unless the building is a shopping center, a shopping mall, or a healthcare office. The Attorney General can also require elevators based on the usage of the facilities.
What Are the ADA Standards for Accessible Design?
The ADA Standards for Accessible Design apply to new buildings and facilities; alterations or renovations affecting the use of the building and facilities; architectural changes in existing state and local government buildings for program access; and removing architectural barriers that are easy and don’t require much difficulty or expense in existing buildings.
The first ADA Standards were adopted on July 26, 1991, and revised on Sept. 15, 2010. Known as the “1991 ADA Standards” and “2010 ADA Standards,” it’s important to know when the 1991 or 2010 standards apply to buildings and facilities to ensure they comply with the ADA. For more information, review the “ADA Requirements: Effective Date and Compliance Date guide.”
