ADA Signage

The Need for ADA Signage

The Americans with Disabilities act of 1990 is a law that prohibits discrimination based on disability, under certain circumstances. The particular areas that the act covers include employment, public entities, and public accommodations. Public accommodations refer to places of recreation, transportation, education, and dining, along with inns, hotels, stores, care providers, and places of public displays. If your business falls into one of these categories, your business is a public accommodation. Even if your business does not fall into one of these categories, it still benefits your business to be ADA compliant.

ADA Signage Compliance

Let us be your experts on the requirements of signing your locations for the Americans with Disabilities Act. We've studied the law and have determined that, in certain instances, signs alone can bring you closer to compliance. In general, almost every sign that would be considered an architectural sign must comply with one or more of the ADA guidelines. In other words, if a sign identifies a permanent room or space of a facility, including exits, directs or informs about functional spaces of the facility, or identifies, directs to, or informs about accessible features of the facility, it must comply. Signs for advertising and marketing purposes, temporary signs, company logos and names are examples of signs or sections of signs that do not have to comply. However, if your signs that fall into the second category DO comply with ADA guidelines, that means you are reaching more customers!

Here are some of the general rules for ADA sign compliance:

• All signs must have non-glare backgrounds and characters.
• All signs must have a high dark to light (or vice versa) contrast between characters and their background.
• All signs must have "easy to read" typefaces.
• Signs that identify rooms and spaces are to be located adjacent to the door they identify so they can be located by persons who are functionally blind.
• Braille must accompany the characters (usually placed below the characters) and must be Contracted Braille (formerly called Grade 2 Braille).

Beyond ADA Compliance

Not only is it the goal of Blue Water Signs to help companies understand the legal requirements of the Americans with Disabilities act, we also want to help you create signs that are visually attractive, aesthetically appealing, and that enhance the overall look of your building.

Please see some samples of ADA signs and Braille signs below, and contact us today to inquire about ADA signage for your Harford County or Baltimore, Maryland business.