ADA Best Practices Tool Kit for State and Local Governments

The ADA Standards for Accessible Design (the ADA Standards)
The ADA Standards for Accessible Design, or the “ADA Standards,” refer to the requirements necessary to make a building or other facility architecturally (physically) accessible to people with disabilities. The ADA Standards identify what features need to be accessible, set forth the number of those features that need to be made accessible, and then provide the specific measurements, dimensions and other technical information needed to make the feature accessible.

Caution: You may hear the acronym ADAAG used to refer to the ADA Standards. ADAAG stands for the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines, which are issued by the United States Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (called the “Access Board” for short). ADAAG is not the same as the ADA Standards. The Department’s regulations must be consistent with the ADAAG, but the ADAAG contains guidelines, not enforceable standards.