The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1991 has had a profound influence on the process of designing and marketing commercial and institutional plumbing fixtures. This is not to say that manufacturers weren't concerned with barrier-free design prior to enactment of ADA, because many certainly were. Rather, it's that pre-ADA barrier-free design did not receive the priority it does today, due in large part to the absence of a unifying, national standard that more clearly defined specific accessibility criteria and that was enforceable on a national level.
Prior to ADA, commercial plumbing fixture manufacturers designed barrier-free toilets, urinals, washbasins, washfountains, drinking fountains, showers and other products to comply primarily with ANSI accessibility standards. ANSI A117.1 was the national accessibility standard for commercial plumbing products. But even though it would eventually become the model for ADA, ANSI A117.1 remained a guideline, not a national law. As such, ANSI barrier-free guidelines were sometimes questioned when conflicting state or local barrier-free codes came into play. This often put manufacturers and local building code inspectors at odds, despite the best intentions of both.