This article provides a history of the updating process for the ADA Accessibility Guidelines, the status of the revision process, and a summary of some of the major differences between the plumbing provisions in the current guidelines and the proposed revisions.
Issue: 3/03
The ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) have not been updated since they were initially published by the U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) in 1990. The technical provisions of the current ADAAG are based on the 1980 edition of ANSI A117.1, which is now 23 years old. The long overdue updating of ADAAG is finally nearing completion. This article provides a brief history of the updating process that is ongoing, the status of the Access Board's rulemaking process to revise the guidelines, and a summary of some of the major differences between the plumbing provisions in the current guidelines and the proposed revisions for the new ADAAG.