Volume 2, No. 17. September 13, 2002
Accessible guidelines
The dust is finally
settling on one of the industry’s most contentious issues the past three
years: accessibility standards for people with disabilities at amusement parks.
The U.S. Access Board last week issued its final Americans with Disabilities
Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) for recreation facilities, which include
amusement parks, swimming pools, sports centers, miniature golf courses and
play areas (regulations are currently being researched for waterpark rides and
go-kart tracks).
For amusement rides, the regulations address the need for wheelchair space on
rides or the capability for people who use wheelchairs to transfer to a ride
seat. The Access Board has drawn up specific criteria for these wheelchair spaces
and transfer devices, including diagrams. However, in an apparent bow to the
industry’s own expertise, the Board acknowledges the singular nature of
many new thrill rides and “supports the need for flexibility in making
them accessible.” One section of the ADAAG permits ‘‘departures
from particular technical and scoping requirements of this guideline by the
use of other designs and technologies . . . where the alternative designs and
technologies used will provide substantially equivalent or greater access to
and usability of the facility.’’ This is in keeping with the ADA itself
which says accessibility should not interfere with the fundamental experience
of the public accommodation.
Addressing another hot topic, the Access Board has stated in issuing the new
guidelines that they are applicable only to new construction and planned alterations.
This may meet a strong challenge in court, however, as the ADA has no such limitation
of its scope and even requires historic homes to provide at least some alternative
form of accessibility.
Meanwhile, miniature golf courses did not gain much leeway in the currently
issued regulations versus the draft sent out to public review two years ago.
The new guidelines require at least half of the holes on a miniature golf course
to be “served by an accessible route,” the specifications of which
are spelled out in the regulations, “(taking) into account design conventions.
. .such as carpeted play surfaces and curbs.”
The Access Board’s guidelines are, in the bureaucratic process of rulemaking,
more or less recommendations to the Department of Justice, which enforces the
public accommodations elements of the ADA and will issue the final set of regulations.
Generally, the Justice Department adopts the Access Board’s guidelines
with little change, but they do go through another public commentary period,
yet a final chance for interested parties on both sides to provide further inputs.
Meantime, the guidelines become a de facto standard for accessibility, so operators
and designers or all recreation facilities and equipment should study the guidelines.
They are available from the U.S. Access Board (800-872-2253) and on line at
www.access-board.gov.
©2002, Minton Enterprises
LLC
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