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Introduction Under Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, any attempt to limit functional ability of disabled people, on the part of public or commercial institutions, constitutes the impairment of their civil rights and can result in legal consequences. This Act obligates U. S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board to make necessary provisions, so that Minimum Guidelines and Requirements for Accessible Design (ADAAG) could be taken into consideration at all times by Departments of Justice and Transportation, while issuing rules and regulations for building new, and maintaining the old public facilities.
Section 226 of ADAs Title II states: it shall be considered discrimination for a public entity to construct a new facility to be used in the provision of designated public transportation services unless such facility is readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities, including individuals who use wheelchairs (ADA, sect. 226). The Section 227 of the same Title also suggests that accessibility improvements need to be considered in existing public facilities: the entity shall also make the alterations in such a manner that, to the maximum extent feasible, the path of travel to the altered area and the bathrooms, telephones, and drinking fountains serving the altered area, are readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities, including individuals who use wheelchairs (ADA, sect. 227). From the mentioned sections, it appears that ADAs requirements are of general nature. ADAAG is meant to specify them, so that building contractors and real estate agents will enjoy less liberty, interpreting them from the legal point of view. ADAAG covers the buildings and facilities, described in Titles II and III of ADA. Therefore, only the public places are supposed to comply with ADAAG requirements.
Through Guidelines, ADA carries legal obligations that are applied to private entities, which own or lease public facilities. Laws Implication ADA is comparatively new legislation; therefore itll take more time before it becomes truly effective. The main problem of its practical application lies in the fact that architectural constructions vary greatly in its design. Buildings are supposed to serve different functions, therefore its ontologically wrong to imply that they all must have common features. It is no by accident that the accessibility requirements for public facilities are referred to as guidelines. ADAAG suggests that such things as ramps, handrails and wider door openings must be considered while designing new buildings.
As a matter of fact, the city majors cannot approve architectural projects, unless they fully comply with ADA. At the same time, the Guidelines leave a lot of room for their legal interpretations, when it comes to applying its principles to existing public facilities. For example, ADAAG states that it is a direct responsibility of private entities to remove architectural barriers in existing facilities only if it easily accomplish able and able to be carried out without much difficulty or expense. Failure to follow this guideline cannot really result in any legal consequences, because it is simply too vast. The removal of architectural details can also degrade buildings, from esthetic point of view. Therefore, Adaag's practical implication can be challenged by those disabled people that consider reducing public buildings esthetic value as violation of their civil rights, even if its meant to provide easier access to such buildings.
The Market and Influence of the ADA As practice shows, it is not always easy to distinguish between public and commercial facilities. ADA provides 12 characteristics of public accommodations that meant to automatically upgrade building to public facility status, even if only one of them is being observed. Places of public accommodation are meant to provide goods and services to people, regardless of their social or professional affiliation. Public libraries, railways stations, airports and hospitals can serve as the best example of such facilities. Still, there are also a public places that are exempted from ADA, such as private clubs, religious organizations and casinos. The term commercial facilities is usually referred to places of employment, with limited access to public.
They are the subject of Title 1, Section 101 of ADA, which states that employer is responsible for: making existing facilities used by employees readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities (ADA, sect. 101). Making public places easily accessible for disabled people cannot be considered as required but unnecessary expenditure. According to statistics, about 20 % of U. S. population suffers from some form of disability. Application of ADAAG in public places has also a commercial potential, since facilities with easy access will attract more people.
We think about places of public accommodation in purely social terms, while it is proven that such places can generate a substantial income. For example, the average public library in U. S. can come up with as much as 20 thousand dollars of commercial income annually. This is due to the fact that it charges people for various communal activities, which take place on its premises.
Thats why the removal of accessibility barriers can be thought as an investment, which will eventually result in direct benefits. The improvement of public places, according to ADAAG, is a process that gains more and more momentum. In 1991, only 10 % of all public facilities in America were equipped with wheelchair ramps. By the year 2000, their number accounted for 35 %. At the same time, Guidelines itself are being continuously upgraded, so that they could be more easily applicable on the practical level. ADA Accessibility Guidelines The recent adjustments to ADA place bigger responsibility on commercial parties to insure that ADAAG are being followed in the process of designing new buildings, even if its done at the expense of gaining an immediate commercial benefits.
U. S. Department of Justice is now being entitled with even more executive powers to enforce the implication of ADAAG standards in the field of construction. The legal consequences for failure to improve existing public facilities include fines and even jail sentences, if such failure was recognized as the cause of disable people receiving bodily injuries. The full compliance with ADAAG requirements, on the part or property owners, can only be accomplished if they deploy barriers removal strategy. It is meant to insure that essential functions of public facilities will not be affected by ongoing improvement of buildings accessibility.
Summary The ADA legislation is an important step in making American society more civil. Yet, it comes at certain price. From now on, the potential buyers and investors will have to consider the additional costs, related to bringing an acquired property in line with ADA regulations. The accessibility consultants can provide private parties with accurate financial assessment of proposed deals. This will also require the professional engineers to be aware of ADA principles, because buildings designs are going to be heavily affected by incorporation of progressive accessibility features.
In the long run, it will cause cities architectural planning to also consider this factor, as it going to imply changes on macro level as well. Bibliography: ADA Compliance Survey. Adaptive Architecture Home Site. 2004. 23 Feb. 2005 web ADA Standards for Accessible Design 2003. PHD Center. 23 Feb. 2005 web United States. U. S.
Department of Labor. The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990. 2005. Feb. 23, 2005. web United States.
Architectural Barriers Compliance Board. ADA Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities (ADAAG). 22 Sept. 2002. 23 Feb. 2005 web The Outline Introduction a brief overview of the issue. Laws Implication discusses different legal aspects of ADA application. The Market and Influence of the ADA researches the influence of ADA on designing of public facilities from commercial prospective.
ADA Accessibility Guidelines discuses the role of ADAAG. Summary concludes the paper.
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