ADA Signs

src: raidersignage.com

The term " THERE ARE " has been commonly used in the architectural, construction and billboard industries with the advent of the American With Disabilities Act, or ADA. Americans with Disabilities Act governing accessibility; and includes requirements for nameplate that are easy to find and easy to read both visually and through touch.

"ADA Signs" is sometimes misunderstood as synonymous with braille. Braille and elevated characters are the most visible manifestations of the law requiring access to the built environment, but the standard of the sign in the ADA Accessibility Guide (or ADAAG) requires more than braille and character generated on some signs. In general, almost every sign regarded as a "architecture" sign must comply with one or more of the ADA Guidelines. If a mark identifies a permanent space or facility space (including exits), directs or gives information about the functional space of the facility, or identifies, directs to, or informs about features accessible from the facility, it must comply. Signs for advertising and marketing purposes, temporary signs, company logos and names are examples of signs or parts of signs that do not have to be obeyed.

Video ADA Signs

Benefits

Because of the rules that Braille requires on some signs, the signage section is most often seen as benefiting blind and blind people. Some marking guidelines are also designed to benefit people with mobility or hearing loss. In addition, it is generally assumed that an easy-to-read and well thought-out system is useful for deaf people, people with speech problems, and people with cognitive disabilities or psychiatric conditions that cause them to avoid talking to strangers.

Maps ADA Signs

Rules

The general rule for signs covered by law is this:

All signs (except for reflective parking and other traffic signs) should have background and character without glare. Glare and reflection are major problems for people with visual impairment, and especially for the elderly.

All signs that contain visual characters should have a high contrast between the dark and the bright (or vice versa) between the character and the background. Important issues are not color, but light and dark: a very bright gray sign on a charcoal gray background will be accepted, but a red-letter mark on a black background will not.

All signs must have "easy-to-read" typography. There are different rules for signs that identify space and space, versus the sign that directs and informs. This is because people who are "functionally blind" (having no visible vision) can find the door, and therefore can find signs adjacent to the door that identifies them; but does not have a consistent way of finding direction and information that can be found anywhere along the corridor.

Signs of direction and information can be capitalized (recommended by many experts for visual reading) and simple serif typography of non-decorative properties. No condensed or extended surfaces are permitted. Stroke has a medium weight, not too thick or too thin. The size of a letter is dictated by the distance of the sign from the expected position of the sign reader. The size of the characters on these signs will be determined by the chart in Standard ADA 2010 for Design Accessible that uses a combination of text height above the floor and the distance the reader should stand from the mark.

The ADA signs identifying rooms and spaces should be located adjacent to the door they identify so that they can be found by functionally blind people. For the most part, one mark is used by tactile and visual readers, so there is a compromise to help the tactile reader. However, it is possible to use two separate signs with the same information. A tactile flag requires capital letters in sans-serif typeface. (Helvetica is the most common; however other sans-serif typeface can be used.) The characters can be between 5/8 inches and 2 inches high. Braille must accompany the character (under the characters) and must be Contracted Braille (formerly called Class 2 Braille). Signs are installed minimum 48 inches from the bottom line of the lowest character and maximum 60 inches from the highest character base line. (Although the definition of "character" does not include Braille cells, the Access Board has stated that the 48-inch rule applies to the bottom line base of the Braille cell.) If Picotograms are used to identify spaces (eg, toilet signs with gender pictograms), they should be in a clear field six inches high and accompanied by tactile characters and Braille labels under the field.

There are four symbols that support accessibility. One is the well known International Access Symbol, or "wheelchair symbol." This is usually used to indicate that people with mobility limitations can access entrances, toilets, or lanes. Three specifically for people with hearing loss: the "ear" symbol is the International Symbol of Access for Hearing Loss, and is used to indicate the availability of an auxiliary hearing system. The "keyboard" symbol stands for TTY or text phone. The "phone" symbol with sound waves represents the availability of a volume-controlled phone.

src: www.highimpact-signs.com

Standard

Standards for signs (and most other standards used in ADA rules and country building codes) are products of the A117.1 ANSI (American National Standards Institute) Committee. This large committee consists of a balanced group of representatives from industry, government, organizations of persons with disabilities, designers, code officials, and experts. The committee meets in a five-year cycle to revise the last published standard. This standard is then used by the International Code Council for its modeling code, and has formed the basis of a new version of the ADA Guidelines, now called ADA/ABA 2004. (However, with the latest publication of the standards by the Department of Justice, we now generally refer to the Guidelines as Standard ADA 2010 for Accessible Designs.)

The standard has been adopted by several federal agencies, and has been approved by the Department of Justice and is awaiting a final review by OMB when the Obama Administration comes along. Although they are actually the product of the Clinton Administration and have taken eight years to make it through the Bush Administration, the Obama Administration considers them the Bush Administration's rules, and holds them for review. They are approved by the Department of Justice for publication on September 15, 2010, and are made legally valid on March 15, 2012.