ADA Sets the Legal Floor - Universal Design Sets a Higher Standard for Inclusion
The Americans with Disabilities Act and the ADA Standards for Accessible Design establish the legal minimum requirements for accessible buildings: number of accessible parking spaces, turning radius in restrooms, reach ranges at counters, door hardware requirements. Compliance with ADA is legally required, but it is not the same as good design for all users. Universal Design is a design philosophy developed by Ronald Mace and colleagues at North Carolina State University in the 1980s and 1990s that seeks to create environments usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design. The seven principles of universal design guide designers toward solutions that work for the broadest possible range of users - not just users with mobility limitations, but users across the entire spectrum of age, size, ability, and sensory capacity. The ARE PA exam tests universal design as a building and site planning competency that goes beyond minimum code compliance.
The Seven Principles of Universal Design
- Equitable Use: The design is useful and marketable to people with diverse abilities. Example: automatic doors accessible to wheelchair users, parents with strollers, deliverers with hand trucks, and everyone else equally.
- Flexibility in Use: The design accommodates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities. Example: scissors that work for both right-handed and left-handed users; a staircase with two handrails - one at standard height, one at a lower height for children and shorter adults.
- Simple and Intuitive Use: Use of the design is easy to understand regardless of the user's experience, knowledge, language skills, or concentration level. Example: signage using universal symbols that do not depend on reading ability.
- Perceptible Information: The design communicates necessary information effectively regardless of ambient conditions or the user's sensory abilities. Example: tactile floor warning strips at transit platform edges (also required by ADA, but applicable universally for all users).
- Tolerance for Error: The design minimizes hazards and adverse consequences of accidental or unintended actions. Example: a design that prevents falls by using contrasting colors at step nosings, benefiting everyone - not just users with visual impairments.
- Low Physical Effort: The design can be used efficiently, comfortably, and with minimum fatigue. Example: lever door handles that require no grip or wrist rotation (ADA-required) but also easier for anyone carrying groceries or with arthritis.
- Size and Space for Approach and Use: Appropriate size and space is provided for approach, reach, manipulation, and use regardless of user's body size, posture, or mobility. Example: a reception desk with a lower section for wheelchair users also accommodates shorter adults, children, and seated staff.
Key Exam Points
- Universal design: designs that work for all users without adaptation; 7 principles developed at NCSU.
- Differs from ADA: ADA sets legal minimums; universal design aims for solutions that work for everyone.
- Key insight: features that improve access for people with disabilities often improve the experience for all users.
- Exam strategy: when evaluating design alternatives, a solution that accommodates the broadest range of users typically aligns with universal design principles.
AREprep's PA program and building planning content covers universal design principles, ADA Standards requirements, and how the two frameworks interact in building design - giving ARE PA candidates the human factors and accessibility design knowledge the exam tests in building planning scenarios that evaluate design decisions for their inclusiveness and adherence to universal design principles.
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