scope:

Purpose

The specifications in this standard make buildings and facilities accessible to and usable by people with such physical disabilities as the inability to walk, difficulty walking, reliance on walking aids, blindness and visual impairment, deafness and hearing impairment, incoordination, reaching and manipulation disabilities, lack of stamina, difficulty interpreting and reacting to sensory information, and extremes of physical size based generally upon adult dimensions. Accessibility and usability allow a person with a physical disability to independently get to, enter and use a building or facility.

This standard provides specifications for elements that are used in making functional spaces accessible. For example, it specifies technical requirements for making doors, routes, seating, and other elements accessible. These accessible elements are used to design accessible functional spaces such as classrooms, hotel rooms, lobbies, or offices.

This standard is for adoption by government agencies and by organizations setting model codes to achieve uniformity in the technical design criteria in building codes and other regulations. This standard is also used by non-governmental parties as technical design guidelines or requirements to make buildings and facilities accessible to and usable by persons with physical disabilities.

*an asterisk denotes explanatory text in Appendix A.