Live Displays, Habitats, and Tanks
Category
Content Creators/Editors
General Overview
Arts and culture organizations should consider many factors when designing accessible live displays, habitats and tank spaces. We recommend visiting the Physical Features, Sensory Features, and Care and Convenience Features sections of The Hub to learn more about accessibility requirements and best practices relevant to all spaces. This page covers accessibility considerations and best practices that are unique to zoos, aquariums, and other organizations that feature live displays and collections. These organizations often cover large areas, containing a dynamic weather environment as well as a living collection that requires continuously balancing animal welfare and human access. Considering accessibility in these ever-evolving spaces requires thought, flexibility, a shared empathy for all types of living creatures, and providing multiple ways to engage with your collection. Making these spaces accessible can ensure that visitors engage with your displays and habitats, and it also ensures that your organization can have a larger impact in connecting the public to your mission.
Implementation
By organizing spaces and resources with the following considerations in mind, zoos, aquariums, and other organizations with live collections can foster greater accessibility and equitable participation for visitors with disabilities.
- Sight lines: When designing habitats, consider sight lines for all guests, particularly those using mobility devices, viewing from a seated position, or who are short. Avoid permanent or temporary obstacles (including piled snow, leaves, branches, etc.) that obstruct the view at different heights, ensuring that all visitors can see the animals and exhibits clearly.
- Fencing and barriers: Traditional fencing can obscure views for people with low vision. Consider alternatives like full-length glass panes or lower, less opaque fencing to create clear sight lines into exhibits. Bird-safe glass is recommended. Viewing windows are preferable to moats, as they allow for closer interactions with animals while ensuring safety. Remember to include tactile markers or tactile strips in front of glass to indicate a barrier for cane navigation.
- Multisensory offerings: Exhibit designs should incorporate additional contextual understanding and opportunities for non-visual engagement. Signage and displays should work to incorporate sound, smell, touch, and other senses as well as describe important visual features. (Visit the Hub pages on Sensory Services and Touch and Tactile Services for more information.)
- Obstructing habitat features: In habitats where elements such as artificial vines, tree roots, or logs extend into public walkways, be mindful of potential tripping hazards, especially for individuals using white canes or mobility devices. These features may narrow paths or pose risks, so they should be carefully managed.
- Environmental constraints: Certain features of outdoor spaces (e.g., weather impact, temperature changes, natural habitats) can affect the ability to provide consistent accessibility and need to be considered in your planning.
- Wayfinding: Include mapping icons that provide indications of grade, path, materials and other significant elements.
- Pathway design: Pathways should be clear, stable, and wide enough to ensure mobility devices can navigate easily.
- Pathway materials and grades: Use consistent and smooth pathway materials to facilitate movement. Ensure that pathways have low grades and that ramps are provided where necessary. For areas where permeable surfaces are needed due to vegetation or drainage, use products like Mobi-mats to improve accessibility. (For more information about navigating gardens and outdoor spaces and/or providing mobility devices to support accessible movement on unique terrain, please visit those pages of The Hub.)
- Maintenance: Ensure public walkways are free of tripping hazards by regularly maintaining the surfaces. Snow, ice, or other debris should be cleared before opening to the public to ensure safe travel, particularly for those using mobility devices.
- Seating and rest areas: As many spaces often have long stretches of pathways, it’s essential to audit seating options with charging stations (for mobility devices) along these routes. Provide benches or rest areas with companion seating at intervals, particularly in places where visitors might need to travel long distances. (Visit the Care and Convenience Features page of The Hub to learn more about accessible rest seating.)
- Wheel cleaning areas: Some exhibits may require guests’ mobility devices to traverse across an animal yard. Roll-on wheel cleaning stations not only provide guests with the opportunity to not transmit viruses after their visit, but also show how the institution has the foresight to help guests avoid tracking animal excrement home.
- Universal door access: Double doors (i.e. sequential doors where one must enter one door, allow it to close, and then open a second door) are commonly used in aviaries or free-range animal exhibits, but they may restrict access for mobility devices. Additionally, automatic doors may jeopardize the safety of animals. In these cases, it is recommended to have doors that open inward, enough room between the sequential doors for a person using a mobility device to get through each door, with the lowest weight resistance level for opening with handles that are universal.
- Lighting transitions: Moving between dark and light spaces can be difficult for some individuals. This transition is common in areas where diurnal and nocturnal animals are housed in close proximity to each other. Specifically when a diurnal animal’s habitat is well lit and a nocturnal animal’s habit is dark or lit in red light. Install LED strips along walls and use upturned lighting to create smoother transitions between different lighting conditions. Strive for uniform lighting throughout exhibits to reduce visual strain and increase safety. Remember to also include this information on signage and maps so visitors can pre-plan before entering.
- Sensory features: Incorporate consistent sensory experiences — such as lighting, smells, sounds, and tactile elements — throughout your space. These features can enhance the visitor experience but should be designed so that guests have the choice to opt into the experience. Remember to highlight this information with signage and iconography and include it on maps. (For more information, visit the Sensory Features section of The Hub.)
- Service animal policies: Collaborate with your animal care team to address areas sensitive to the presence of service animals. Develop strategies to provide access to individuals using service animals, such as assigning volunteers to watch the service animals while guests engage in animal encounters or feeding experiences. This ensures that both the guest and the animal have a safe and fulfilling experience. (Visit the Hub page on Service Animal Services to learn more.)
Associated Legal Requirements or Obligations
Please note that, while this content was developed by people with expertise in the ADA and legal requirements related to access, it was created for informational purposes and should not be considered legal advice.
- 2010 Standards for Accessible Design:
- Accessible Routes (Section 403) Pathways must be at least 36 inches wide. Slopes greater than 1:20 (5%) require ramps.
- Ramps & Inclines (Section 405) Maximum slope of 1:12 (8.33%) with handrails for slopes exceeding 6 inches in rise.
- Protruding Objects (Section 307) Overhead objects must be at least 80 inches above the floor. Wall-mounted objects must not protrude more than 4 inches if their bottom edge is higher than 27 inches from the floor.
- Signage Requirements (Sections 703.5 & 703.6) Must have high contrast, non-glare surfaces. Must use raised characters and braille for permanent rooms and spaces.
- Seating and Rest Areas (Sections 226 & 902) At least 5% of seating must be accessible.
- Service Counters (Section 904.4) At least one accessible counter must be 36 inches or lower in height.
- Doors, Doorways, and Gates (Section 404) Clear width of 32 inches minimum.
- Restrooms (Section 603 – 606) Accessible restrooms must include: At least one accessible stall and accessible sink.
- Title II of the ADA:
- Prohibits discrimination (28 CFR §35.130):
- Public entities such as zoos, aquariums, and habitats may not deny the benefit of participation in services, programs, or activities on the basis of disability. Public entities must make reasonable modifications to ensure accessibility.
- Effective Communication (28 CFR § 35.160):
- Auxiliary aids and services, such as captioning for videos and assistive listening devices, must be provided
- Physical Accessibility (28 CFR § 35.151):
- Any newly constructed or altered spaces must comply with 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design.
- Prohibits discrimination (28 CFR §35.130):
- Title III of the ADA:
Places of public accommodation are prohibited from discriminating against individuals with disabilities on the basis of their disability (28 CFR § 36.201):
- Applies to privately owned zoos, aquariums, and other public places.
- Requires compliance with architectural standards and removal of barriers where readily achievable.
- Service Animals (28 CFR § 36.302(c)):
- Service animals must be permitted in all areas where the public is allowed.
- Zoos and aquariums may restrict access to certain enclosures where the presence of a service animal could pose a direct threat to other animals but must provide alternative means of access to exhibits.
- Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
- Entities that receive federal financial assistance may not discriminate against individuals with disabilities (29 U.S.C. § 794)
- Any zoo, aquarium, or live display facility receiving federal funding must ensure equal access for people with disabilities.
- Applies to exhibits, pathways, signage, restrooms, and visitor services.
- Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act
- Digital Accessibility Standards (36 CFR Part 1194)
- Requires websites, mobile apps, and digital kiosks to comply with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Level AA.
- Digital Accessibility Standards (36 CFR Part 1194)
The ABA only applies to federal entities which would include Zoos and Aquariums run by a federal entity such as the National Park Service.
- Outdoor Developed Areas (Chapter 10)
- Accessible Routes (Section 1016): Paths must be stable, firm, and slip-resistant and Running slope must be no steeper than 1:20 (5%).
- Viewing Areas (Section 1017): Must provide at least one accessible viewing area with clear sightlines at different heights.
- Signage (Sections 703.5 & 703.6): Tactile elements and universal symbols must be used on certain signs.
See also:
- 2010 Standards for Accessible Design
- ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)
- Auxiliary Aids and Services
- Effective Communication
- IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act)
- Readily Achievable Barrier Removal
- Reasonable Accommodation
- Rehabilitation Act of 1973
- Safe Harbor
- Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
- Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act
- Title II of the ADA or a Title II Entity
- Title III of the ADA or a Title III Entity
- Undue Burden/Hardship
- Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS)
- U.S. Access Board
- WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)
Learn More
While external resources have been vetted and reviewed, the Hub does not have ownership or oversight of these external resources. If you’d like to add or suggest resources or if you encounter any issues, please let us know using this form.