Physical Features

When making your organization’s physical features more accessible, it is important to comply with existing legal requirements while also considering several best practices that go beyond the minimum standards. To get started, consider the guidelines below:

• Get up to speed on legal requirements: Several laws, including the 1968 Architectural Barriers Act (ABA), 1973 Rehabilitation Act, and 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), along with state and local laws, provide guidelines and standards for physical accessibility. Implement these laws and standards into your organization’s work. And also remember that, while these regulations aim to remove barriers for as many people as possible, they cannot cover all the nuanced needs of every individual. More detailed information is covered in the “Associated Legal Requirements and Responsibilities” section below.
• Conduct an accessibility audit or self-assessment: Work with accessibility experts and user/experts to evaluate your organization’s current physical accessibility and identify barriers to physical access and elements that are out of compliance with the previously stated laws. (For more information, visit the Hub page on Self Evaluation and Transition Plans.)
• Develop an accessibility plan: Create a detailed plan that addresses physical accessibility needs for your organization, including clear timelines for implementation. Prioritize improvements that will have the greatest impact, both short- and long-term. When certain physical features cannot be altered, or when changes require significant time for implementation, work with experts to identify programmatic and/or policy changes that might mitigate some of these challenges (such as providing virtual programs or tours). Communicate clearly and effectively about these offerings to your community.
• Train your staff: Ensure that your staff is properly trained to understand your organization’s access responsibilities, the accessibility features and limitations of your space, and your policies and procedures. Also prepare them to provide effective and caring customer service.
• Ensure proper maintenance: Create plans for regular maintenance of accessibility features (such as switch-operated doors, elevators, and lifts, etc.). Routinely check all these features to ensure that they are functioning properly.

Many best practices can enhance physical accessibility features across your organization. Below are some considerations for various features of your physical space. Where numbers are indicated in parentheses, they correspond to that section of the ADA Checklist for Existing Facilities, which is a helpful companion resource to use in guiding your accessibility work. The ADA Checklist includes clear specifications, technical drawings, and additional guidelines to help you better understand your responsibilities and navigate existing accessibility standards.

• Arrival and Entry
  • Designate accessible passenger loading (pick-up) and drop-off areas with curb ramps and an accessible route of travel to the entrance. Provide accessible seating near the pick-up area to accommodate guests waiting for a ride.
  • Familiarize yourself with paratransit or other accessible transportation systems. Understand how they impact visitors’ experiences getting to the space.
• Arrival routes
  • Clearly mark the edges of sidewalks and pathways.
  • Ensure that exterior routes to entrances meet accessibility requirements for dimensions, slope, curb ramps, ramps, and surface (1.13 – 1.36, 1.48, 1.49).
• Main entryway
  • Ensure that the main entrance is accessible, or provide alternative accessible entrances during the same hours (1.37). Clearly mark accessible entrances.
  • Place signs at inaccessible entrances indicating the direction and location of the nearest accessible entrance (1.39 – 1.40). If the main entrance is not accessible, ensure that the accessible entrance offers a comparable experience (1.37).
• Entrance doors
  • Ensure that entrance door openings meet width, approach, and clearance requirements (1.41 – 1.42). Also check accessibility requirements for entrance door reach and handles (1.44 – 1.46).
  • Make sure that entrance doors are automatic, switch-operated, or power-assisted. If automatic, switch-operated, or power-assisted doors are unavailable, implement a procedure for assistance if needed to gain entry (e.g., a doorbell or person stationed at the door during public hours).
  • Other considerations:
    • Maintain a schedule for all entrance doors to ensure requirements are consistently and dependably met.
    • Ensure that accessible entrance(s) provide access to the main floor, lobby, or an elevator (2.1).
• Interior Doors
  • Physical requirements:
    • Ensure that interior door openings meet width, approach, and clearance requirements (2.40 – 2.42).
    • Ensure that interior doors meet accessibility requirements for pounds of force to open, reach, and handle (2.43 – 2.46).
    • Provide interior doors that are automatic, switch-operated, or power-assisted.
  • Other considerations:
    • Maintain a schedule for all interior doors to ensure requirements are consistently and dependably met.
• Elevators and Lifts
  • Provide signage indicating where elevators are located within the facility.
  • Physical requirements:
    • Ensure that elevators and lifts meet requirements for dimension, entrance width, approach clearance, and rotation radius (2.24 – 2.26, 2.33, 2.35 – 2.37).
    • Place braille and raised characters on elevator buttons and on the door jam of the elevator doors (2.29, 2.31). Also ensure that the emergency call system inside elevators and/or lifts has braille and raised markings.
    • Ensure that the call buttons of elevators and lifts meet requirements for ease of reach outside and inside (2.22, 2.27, 2.34).
    • Elevator doors should open automatically when obstructed (2.23). Elevators and lifts should also have audible signals (2.30) and should be easily operated without assistance (2.32).
    • Ensure that elevators and/or lifts reach all public floors and all spaces used by staff, volunteers, and other workers.
  • Other considerations:
    • Maintain a schedule for all elevators and lifts.
    • Designate a person on staff who knows how to operate lifts and who can be called in case of malfunction.
• Floors and Surfaces
  • Surfaces and slopes:
    • Ensure that floors in circulation paths are level or do not exceed a 5% slope. They should also be stable, firm, and slip-resistant.
    • Check that carpets meet requirements for pile height and are securely attached to the floor (2.4).
  • Thresholds and surface changes
    • Provide appropriate tactile indicators and detectable warning surfaces where a surface change occurs.
    • Ensure that thresholds are low enough profile for a wheelchair or other mobility device to pass over (1.43).
• Stairs
  • Physical requirements:
    • Ensure that stairs meet accessibility requirements for rise and run of tread, handrails, etc.
    • Ensure that stairs have tactile or other edging for visibility and detection.
• Counters and Work Surfaces
  • Physical requirements:
    • Ensure that all counters and points of exchange (including box office, ticket counter, gift shop cashier, café counters, coatroom counters, etc.) are an accessible height for wheelchair users and people of short stature, including both visitors and staff. Alternatively, build a cut-out or a lower section of the counter for these individuals (2.76 – 2.80).
    • Ensure that all public work surfaces meet requirements for dimensions and approach (2.66 – 2.67).
  • Other considerations:
    • If counters have security glazing or physical barriers that inhibit auditory communication, offer alternative methods of communication.
• Restrooms
  • Navigation:
    • Provide an accessible route to accessible restrooms (3.4).
    • If a restroom is not accessible, provide signs giving directions to the nearest accessible restrooms (3.2).
  • Physical requirements:
    • Ensure that accessible stalls are available in restrooms that meet ADA requirements and are appropriately marked (3.1, 3.3, 3.5 – 3.50).
    • Provide single-occupancy restrooms for families and individuals that meet accessibility recommendations.
    • Provide a restroom with a raised seat, or a temporary raised seat for use as needed.
    • Ensure that restrooms have automatic sinks, soap dispensers, and hand dryers/paper towel dispensers mounted at accessible heights and locations.
    • Provide an adult changing table and accessible baby changing stations.
• Hallways and Pathways
  • Navigation:
    • Ensure that all accessible places are located on at least one accessible route of travel (2.2).
  • Physical requirements:
    • Ensure that hallways and pathways meet requirements for width and turning radius.
    • Ensure that hallways and pathways meet cane detectability requirements for protruding objects (2.8).
    • Ensure that interior ramps meet requirements for width, surface, slope, level landing, and handrails (1.25 – 1.36).
• Parking
  • Navigation:
    • Provide an accessible route of travel from accessible parking to the nearest accessible entrance (1.9, 1.12).
  • Physical requirements:
    • Provide the required number of accessible parking spots, including van parking (1.2 – 1.3).
    • Ensure that accessible parking spots meet requirements for slope, width, clearance, and size of access aisles (1.4 – 1.6, 1.8).
    • Ensure that accessible parking has clear signage (502.6), and access aisles are properly marked (1.7, 1.10, 1.11).
  • Other considerations:
    • If valet parking is available, train your staff in parking methods for vehicles with specialized equipment.
• Office and Staff Space
  • Physical requirements:
    • Ensure that internal office spaces, including offices, meeting rooms, and staff lounges, meet accessibility recommendations, including accessible routes of travel, adequate turning radius, and reach ranges.
  • Other considerations:
    • Ensure that staff areas have emergency warning systems that use both sound and visual cues (4.20).