What are ADA Signs?
ADA Signs are signs that are designed to help individuals with certain hearing, visual or mobility disabilities. In most cases all architectural signs must adhere to the Americans With Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines. These signs typically are those that are displayed to signify a permanent room or a space within a facility. These signs are commonly found around entrances or exits and can include those that give directions to areas in a facility or gives information about the facility. Signs that are only temporary, are advertisements or displays the companies logos or names do not have to follow the guidelines set in place by the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Guidelines For ADA Signs:
There are a number of rules that must be followed when displaying ADA signs. Font size, colors and even where ADA signs are displayed are all little details that need special attention and consideration. The following guidelines are some examples of these requirements:
1) ADA signs should not be displayed on reflective or glare backgrounds. The characters and background of ADA signs should all be of a non-glare material because the glare can be troublesome for those with visual impairments and the elderly. The only signs that are exempt from this rule are those that are found in parking lots or for traffic signs.
2) All signs must exhibit a high contrast between the characters or lettering and the background. The characters need to be light with a much darker background or the letters need to be dark and placed on a much lighter background. This is so individuals can easily distinguish between the background and the characters or letters.
3) Fonts or typefaces must be easy to read. This guideline is different for certain signs such as those located outside of identifiable rooms and those that give direction or other information about the facility. The specific size will depend on how far the sign is off the ground and what the exact purpose of the sign is.
4) The size of the fonts and typeface are typically required to be between bold and regular strokes. The size of the typefaces is determined from the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design, which will take into consideration a number of variables to determine appropriate size for each specific sign.
5) Signs need to be positioned next to doors that they identify. Most often there will be two separate ADA signs that will help assist those with visual impairments and those that are can be read easily by those without visual impairments. Each signs has specific design guidelines and those with a pictogram must be accompanied with tactile characters with Braille characteristics as well.
If you are planning on displaying any ADA signs in your business or facility that you will want to ensure that you are in compliance with all the proper guidelines. ADA Signs are a requirement for some business and having them is simply more considerate and convenient for everyone. Using ADA signs ensure that you are not excluding any individuals from using your business services.
