ADA Best Practices Tool Kit for State and Local Governments

After January 26, 1992
Any facility built or altered after January 26, 1992, must be “readily accessible to and usable by” persons with disabilities.²⁷ For ADA compliance purposes, any facility where construction commenced after January 26, 1992 is considered “new,” “newly constructed,” or “post-ADA.” “Readily accessible to and usable by” means that the new or altered building must be built in strict compliance with either the ADA Standards for Accessible Design or UFAS.

Altering (renovating) a building means making a change in the usability of the altered item. Examples of changes in usability include: changing a low pile carpet to a thick pile carpet, moving walls, installing new toilets, or adding more parking spaces to a parking lot. Any state or local government facility that was altered after January 26,1992 was required to be altered in compliance with the ADA Standards or UFAS.

When part of a building has been altered, the alterations must be made in strict compliance with architectural standards, including creating an accessible path of travel to the altered area.

Of course, it is possible for a pre-ADA building (i.e., built before 1992) to have altered elements. In that case, the public entity can provide program access for the programs housed in the non-altered portion of the building by making them available in the parts of the building that have been altered.

New and altered facilities must be built in compliance with the ADA Standards or UFAS regardless of what, if any, programs are located in them. Even if new or altered facilities are not open to the public, they must be accessible to people with disabilities.