THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT - 31

A GUIDE TO UNIVERSAL DESIGN

Legislation that calls for designing and constructing built environments sensitive to people with disabilities:

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires "accessibility to places of public accommodation and commercial facilities by individuals with disabilities.”
The Fair Housing Act Amendments passed in 1988 require all new or substantially rehabilitated multifamily housing (i.e., housing with four or more units) to be built with accessible features (i.e., accessible entrances, doors, corridors, reinforced bathroom walls, usable kitchens and bathroom, and accessible climate controls).

These laws require accessible features in public places and multifamily housing units, but not the single-family home. Sixty-nine percent of all housing units in the United States are single-family homes.

These means that many Americans are living in homes not designed for people with disabilities. The increasing number of people with disabilities brought on by the increase in the number of seniors will only serve to exacerbate this situation.