Types

• Accessible Assembly Seating and Special Occupancies
  2010 ADA Standards rules for wheelchair spaces, companion seats, aisle seats, and assistive listening in assembly areas, plus dressing rooms and other special rooms.
• Accessible Controls, Counters, and Work Surfaces
  2010 ADA Standards rules for accessible sales and service counters, check-out aisles, dining and work surfaces, benches, and self-service shelves.
• Accessible Doors and Entrances
  2010 ADA Standards rules for accessible entrances and doors, covering clear width, maneuvering clearances, hardware, thresholds, closers, and automatic doors.
• Accessible Dwelling Units
  Accessibility rules for housing and lodging, covering Type A and Type B dwelling units, Fair Housing Act requirements, and ADA hotel guest rooms.
• Accessible Parking and Passenger Loading
  2010 ADA Standards rules for the number, size, and layout of accessible parking spaces, van spaces, access aisles, and passenger loading zones.
• Accessible Routes
  2010 ADA Standards rules for accessible routes, covering width, slope, passing spaces, surfaces, changes in level, and protruding objects.
• Accessible Signage
  2010 ADA Standards rules for accessible signs, covering tactile and braille room signs, exit door signs, mounting heights, and the International Symbol of Accessibility.
• Accessible Toilet Rooms and Plumbing Fixtures
  2010 ADA Standards rules for accessible toilet rooms, water closets, urinals, lavatories, showers, tubs, grab bars, and drinking fountains.
• Ramps, Stairs, and Elevators
  2010 ADA Standards rules for ramps, curb ramps, stairs, handrails, elevators, and platform lifts that carry people between levels.
• Reach Ranges and Clear Floor Space
  2010 ADA Standards rules for turning space, clear floor space, knee and toe clearance, reach ranges, and operable parts.

Scope and application

• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): a federal civil rights law. Its 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design set the technical requirements for state and local government facilities and places of public accommodation, and for commercial facilities
• IBC Chapter 11: the building code's accessibility chapter, which says where accessible features are required (scoping) and refers to ICC A117.1 for the technical details
• ICC A117.1: the consensus technical standard for accessible and usable buildings, referenced by the I-Codes; it parallels the ADA Standards but is not identical
• Fair Housing Act (FHA): federal law that sets design and construction requirements for covered multifamily housing
• IRC: detached one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses are outside the scope of IBC Chapter 11; the FHA design requirements exclude detached single-family houses, duplexes, triplexes, and multistory townhouses
• The strictest of the applicable requirements governs a project, and the building code does not replace the ADA. Passing building code review does not establish ADA compliance
• State and local codes often add or replace the model requirements; some states publish their own accessibility chapters

Editions and adoption

Always verify the adopted code edition and local amendments for the project jurisdiction.

Governing editions

• The 2010 ADA Standards are the technical basis of these notes because they are published as a single federal text. Where the adopted building code or a state code is more stringent, the stricter rule governs

Enforcement and administration

• ADA: enforced through federal agencies and civil action; local building officials do not enforce the ADA, but many review plans for the building code accessibility chapter
• Building code accessibility chapter: enforced by the local building official through plan review and inspection
• Fair Housing Act: enforced by HUD and private action; it applies even where local code review does not check it
• Owners and designers carry responsibility for compliance with all applicable rules

How the code is organized

2010 ADA Standards

IBC 2024 Chapter 11 sections

Using the code

The path through an accessibility review:

1. Identify which rules apply (ADA, building code, FHA, state code) and which edition of each
2. Lay out the site arrival points, parking, and entrances under Accessible Parking and Passenger Loading, Accessible Doors and Entrances, and Accessible Routes
3. Provide vertical circulation under Ramps, Stairs, and Elevators
4. Size toilet rooms and fixtures under Accessible Toilet Rooms and Plumbing Fixtures
5. Reach, clearances, and controls under Reach Ranges and Clear Floor Space and Accessible Controls, Counters, and Work Surfaces
6. Add signs under Accessible Signage
7. Housing and lodging: Accessible Dwelling Units; assembly spaces: Accessible Assembly Seating and Special Occupancies

Referenced standards

Sources

• U.S. Access Board: 2010 ADA Standards (full text), https://www.access-board.gov/ada/
• UpCodes: 2024 IBC Chapter 11 accessibility (Department of Defense adoption, section titles), https://up.codes/viewer/department-of-defense/ibc-2024/chapter/11/accessibility
• National Fair Housing Alliance: new construction fair housing accessibility requirements, https://www.equalhousing.org/fair-housing-topics/new-construction-fair-housing-accessibility-requirements/