How to Measure...Anything - Part 3

This week I’m going to try to convince you to grab a tape measure before starting any project, especially something as important as ADA compliance.

Remember your first Bicycle?

Roller Skates?

Skateboard?

Wii?  Kinect?

Oh, that brings back some good memories…

Remember limping around with bandages/casts/crutches/splints for the next 4 weeks?

Well, I remember tripping across the gas station parking lot because I couldn’t hit the right buttons at the pump. Then my crutches got caught in the automatic doors and tripped an inattentive bystander. I remember my signature looked like a seismic readout because I had to use the wrong hand.  I saw every door as a new and dangerous obstacle. I didn’t want to go anywhere. 

Okay, those weren’t all on the same day, but they did happen.  It is truly a very different world for a person with a disability. As a result I am now convinced that there is a very legitimate reason to change the way we design, build and renovate buildings.  It is our obligation to afford basic human dignity to each other.

So the back-story for this episode is a bunch of old buildings and an obvious need to make them user-friendly for persons with disabilities.  The current term of choice is “accessible” so I will stick with that for this article. But what is accessible?  How high? How wide?  What about the door at the gas station that tried to kill me?  How much force is too much to open a door?  As you can imagine, the list can go on forever.  Wow, I have a great idea!  Someone should really put this into a usable standard. Any takers?

In reality there are different accessibility standards released over the years by different entities (not all are governmental) and each has its own interpretation and jurisdiction.  There are also mandates specifying who, what, when & where these apply, and who enforces them.  Maybe you have seen these: ADA ANSI, FHAA, UFAS? At this point, I should warn you about the acronyms.  Don’t try to remember these; the point is that there are already too many; and in 2010 we got one more, the ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG). 

First, a little history as it relates to the construction and rental industry. 

Many people think this was inspired by the civil rights act of 1968 because it addressed discrimination in the housing and rental industries. While it is undisputed that this was a major milestone in the fight to end discrimination based on race and several other factors, the reality is that private industry had been at work on inequalities in the building industry for some time by then.

In the late ‘50s, ANSI had gathered input from over 50 organizations representing builders, designers, handicapped people, manufacturers and rehabilitation professionals.  The consensus was released in 1961.  Officially known as ANSI A117.1, “Specifications for Making Buildings and Facilities Accessible to, and Usable by, Physically Handicapped People”.  That’s right, no acronym. And nothing changed in the construction world.

In 1968, the four Federal standard-setting agencies (GSA, DOD, HUD, and USPS) developed the Architectural Barriers Act.  The intent was to help physically handicapped persons have ready access to all buildings that received Federal funding. In reality, only new buildings for those 4 agencies would be designed for accessibility, and since each agency had its own standards, the private sector now had 5 to choose from. So nothing changed in the construction world.

So in 1973 Congress passed the Rehabilitation Act.  Section 504 mandated all common areas (public access, walkways etc.) of Federally funded buildings be accessible, and Section 502 authorized a board to act as an enforcer. This was the Architectural & Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (ATBCB).  Eleven Federal agencies sent representatives and the President appointed 11 public members. And nothing changed in the construction world.

They revisited this in 1978, amending Section 502 to add more responsibilities to the ATBCB, mainly to write the minimum guidelines and requirements for the 4 standard-setting agencies.  To you and me, that means “at least this many”, “at least this wide”, or “not more than”.  This finally came to an agreement in 1982 with the final “rule” published in the Federal Register.  It’s at 47 FR 33862.   And nothing changed in the construction world.

Up to this point, we’ve been working on this over 20 years and still have at least 5 standards, including ANSI A117.1-1980 with research funded in part by HUD.

The first real attempt at uniformity was aptly named the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS), published in 1984.  This followed the ANSI format and all four of the standard setting agencies adopted this into their own code by mid-1985.  And nothing changed in the construction world.

About 1990, the Americans w/ Disabilities Act became law.  But this was different.  Unlike all previous attempts, this was not just another construction mandate; this was now a “civil rights” law. So what's the difference?

Money. A lot of money.

Did you catch the “civil rights” part?  This is not a simple code violation.

The legal firms know the difference, and they have been making a good living on your taxes for over 20 years now.  There is an urban legend about a paraplegic crawling up the steps of city hall, lawyer in tow, claiming discrimination and winning a very large settlement.  You might say to yourself, “I remember that case, that’s not a legend”.  Well, you are correct.  I used the urban legend phrase because it has happened too many times to count.  What’s scary is that this is not limited to government.  The private sector is especially vulnerable.  Every week there is a news piece about a business in a historical building that shut their doors to avoid the massive civil penalties. Some would call it legal extortion.   

Like I stated in the beginning, it is truly a very different world for a person with a disability.  It’s just unfortunate that the legal profession has smelled blood in the water.  Sadly, the reason to change the way we design, build and renovate buildings is not human dignity, but money.  It is no longer our obligation to afford dignity to others, but to avoid litigation.

Are you aware that your building is not accessible by persons with disabilities?

Are you planning modifications to avoid future litigation?

Do you want to do this only once?

Wow, I have a great idea!  Someone should really put this into a usable standard. Any takers?

Finally, the Federal Access Board has distilled all the different standards we discussed earlier down to one manageable document.  It's not perfect, but at least we are all reading the same guidelines.  

To start, download a copy of the 2004 ADAAG guidelines from the Access Board website. 

That's enough for today.  Next time we will use the tape measure, I promise.

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