What’s a Wheelchair Accessible Building?

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Buildings can be made wheelchair accessible with simple accommodations such as wide hallways, wheelchair lifts, entrance ramps, automatic doors, or designated parking spaces. New buildings are required by law to integrate wheelchair-accessible construction into every part of the building. Existing buildings can also be retrofitted with disabled-accessible facilities. Choosing a wheelchair-accessible building for your residence can allow for more independence and grants may be available to offset renovation costs. Improving technology and accessibility should bring wheelchair-accessible construction to countless new homes.

The buildings are wheelchair accessible construction compliant to make their commercial or residential facilities open to people with disabilities. Simple accommodations, such as wide hallways, wheelchair lifts, entrance ramps, automatic doors, or designated parking spaces, can bring their property up to the code of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Wheelchair accessible construction means that a person using a wheelchair can move freely between floors, in toilets, workstations and across walkways.

Some new buildings are required by legislation to design and build facilities that make it easy for a wheelchair user to use the same facilities as a non-disabled visitor. These new-build buildings integrate wheelchair-accessible construction into every part of the building, from the parking lot to the entrance to the destination search and arrival. Such floors might have ramps instead of stairs, an elevator instead of an escalator, wheelchair accessible toilets, drinking fountains at different heights, self-opening doors, and information posted at wheelchair height.

It is also possible to retrofit existing public and private buildings with disabled-accessible facilities. Many companies are dedicated to designing and implementing plans that reduce the constraints of a disability, such as the National Architecture Program of the Paralyzed Veterans of America. Rails or rails can be hung in toilets and along ramps to allow visitors to move independently. In residences, entire bathrooms and kitchens can be replaced with new toilets, showers, counters and sinks that are easy to reach and control. Portable stairlifts offer an alternative to lifts.

In your residence, deciding on a wheelchair-accessible building could allow you or your parents to live more independently if you are less mobile in the future. Not only will your investment be worth it for the peace of mind, but often your city, county, or insurance agency provides grants to help offset renovation costs. Your options are amazing for bathtubs with easy-access doors that don’t leak, small elevators, outdoor pool elevators to encourage exercise, height-adjustable tables and desks, and doors and cabinets that open at the push of a button. Improving technology and accessibility should bring wheelchair-accessible construction to countless new homes.




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