ADA at 25: compliance Still lagging, Consultant CLAIms

ADA At 25: Compliance Still lagging, Consultant Claims

What's wrong with this picture? If you're the owner and you don't know, you may want to hire someone who does.

Leah Riley

by JOHN GREGERSON | Oct 28, 2015

It was sweeping, controversial and, to many, seemingly impossible to implement when first enacted 25 years ago. Today, industry members, planners and building owners across the country continue to struggle with meeting the requirements of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

“Even going out to eat, I always seem to be able to pick out at least one, often more, non-compliant elements, just about everywhere I go, whether the building was constructed some time ago, or just last week,” writes Leah Riley, senior code consultant with Chicago-based Burnham Nationwide Inc. 

”With ADA lawsuits (still!) growing, it is important to make sure that not only [your] construction drawings demonstrate compliance, but that the installation in the field is done correctly," she adds.  

Riley makes her remarks in four recent blog posts at Burnham's FINAL REVIEW online "knowledge center", drawing at least partly on a presentation she recently made to the local chapter of the Construction Specifications Institute.

For more, read her posts on Identifying Common ADA Errors, 8 ADA Elevator Musts for Getting Your Building Up to Code, Commonly Overlooked ADA Bathroom Requirements, and Accessibility Analysis: Vital to Preventing Lawsuits.

ADA was signed into law in July of 1990. For more on the Act's history and its updates, click here.

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NOTE: Burnham Nationwide will be hosting a breakfast workshop on its new PermitMapper web tool at BuiltWorlds on Tuesday, Dec. 1, presented by Burnham President Carson Khyl. For more details on the event, and to reserve your seat, click here.