Institutional and commercial facilities have operated for decades using accessibility standards and universal design to ensure access. Still, facilities struggle to achieve this goal. In fact, enforcement accessibility enforcement efforts are on the climb: During fiscal year 2024, the Access Board received 341 new complaints under the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 (ABA) — a nearly 70 percent increase over last year. It closed 265, which is a nearly 60 percent increase.
The U.S. Access Board is responsible for enforcing the ABA. The law requires buildings or facilities designed, built, altered or leased by the federal government, as well as some nongovernment buildings constructed with funds from a federal grant or loan, to be accessible to and usable by people with disabilities.
Eighty-five of the 2024 ABA case closures were resolved after the board found that ABA-covered facilities did not meet accessibility standards and required agencies, owners or leaseholders to complete mandatory corrective action.
Most of the corrective actions addressed fundamental issues affecting access to facilities for people with disabilities, such as the operation of power-assisted or manual doors, inaccessible entrances or insufficient or non-compliant accessible spaces in customer and employee parking lots. Among the case closures were these:
Dan Hounsell is senior editor for the facilities market. He has more than 30 years of experience writing about facilities maintenance, engineering and management.
