While the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) outlines a set of standards for accommodating the needs of individuals with disabilities, ADA compliance is something that benefits everyone. When our businesses, neighborhoods, and local government agencies work to be considerate of individuals with differing needs, our inclusive community provides the space to recognize the unique gifts and perspectives that these individuals can offer.

Cities are about to get much wetter as global warming increases the intensity of storms, raises sea levels, and disrupts established climate expectations. Moreover, grey infrastructures in cities are straining to keep up with the growth of urban populations. The pattern of increased storms and frequent flooding requires cities to be proactive in finding a solution for water management and emergency systems or risk being overwhelmed by flooding and constant clean-up.

Sidewalk cracks are often an accepted reality of city living, however, non-ADA-compliant and broken sidewalks often result in injury for pedestrians, unnavigable sidewalks for people with mobility devices, and lawsuits against the city.

It’s not unusual to find missing pavement, crumbling curbs, and weeds sprouting between cracks. However, for people who use wheelchairs, broken sidewalks can be impossible to navigate, forcing them to stay at home or use the road to get around. So a simple crack in a sidewalk is not so simple and potentially dangerous.

A few weeks ago, we talked about the importance of ADA compliance for a temporary event. Meeting U.S. government standards for a public area can be challenging in general, but a temporary event that is open to the public provides its own hurdles to overcome. ADA compliance at a temporary event can be difficult, but compliance is worth the work to create a more accessible world. 

Individuals with limb differences or amputations are often overlooked in our society today. While some choose to use a prosthetic, others don’t. Every experience is unique, from people who have had their limb differences since birth, to others who have had a limb amputation due to accident, injury, or disease.

 
A few weeks ago, we talked about the importance of ADA compliance for a temporary event. Meeting U.S. government standards for a public area can be challenging in general, but a temporary event that is open to the public provides its own hurdles to overcome. ADA compliance at a temporary event can be difficult, but compliance is worth the work to create a more accessible world. 

The best applications for people who use wheelchairs often focus on making the world more accessible. Our society loves apps because of how easy they can make our lives, and these benefits are especially important to those who have mobility issues or use a wheelchair.

Vision loss can happen for a variety of reasons, causing the types of visual impairments to cover a wide spectrum. As a rule, visual impairment cannot be fixed simply by glasses or contact lenses. There are stages of vision loss. What we call blindness is when a visual impairment results in total or near-total vision loss.

For sidewalks and now websites, color ADA compliance ensures that people with low vision are able to see a clear contrast for viewing information. While the government requires a certain standard for public areas and websites, color ADA compliance is important for more reasons than just government conformity.

The etiquette of interacting with a wheelchair user is rather simple if we make it so. From an early age, we learn our society’s rules for interacting with one another; however, society doesn’t offer clear-cut standards for interacting with people who use wheelchairs. When meeting a person using a mobility device in public or social situations, some people might freeze up, act in a patronizing way, or ignore the person completely.

People are people—no matter what.