Valuable ADA resources at your fingertips.
With ADA lawsuits on the rise in this country and the fact that there are many grey areas surrounding the accessibility requirements from state to state, it is more important than ever to have access to multiple sources of information and experts knowledge to cut through the fog.
Any Architect, Civil Engineer, Designer or access specialist must always be learning and enhancing their knowledge of all access codes and laws so that they can service their clients with the most current and up to date code requirements for any barrier removal or new construction project.
In my office, we have several resource guides and books that rely on to help “bridge the gap” between State, Federal and International accessibility requirements.
One such valuable resource is the “Stepping Thru Accessible Details” book written Janis Kent. Janis is a fellow CASp and a California licensed Architect with 30 years of experience in the ADA industry. Besides being the founding president of CASI (Certified Access Specialist Institute), she is the founder of the Stepping Thru Accessibility (STA), a company based in Long Beach CA which provides consulting services, teaching and training seminars and is the author of the Stepping Thru Accessibility Details book.
Her book has been described as “the most comprehensive and thorough compilation of accessibility information I have encountered” by Richard Halloran, the secretary of the San Francisco Access Appeals Commission. If you have ever sat down and opened up the Federal ADAS or the California Building Code and tried to make sense of the written text, you know that it can be confusing to say the least.
Well, Janis Kent has taken these confusing requirements and interpretations of the access codes and put them into a very clear and understandable format. Stepping Thru Accessible Details provides a side-by-side comparison between the ADA and CBC access requirements with design details next to them so you can get a visual understanding of the written text.She also provides two books for Multi-Family reference guides for dwelling unit kitchens and bathrooms available in a downloadable pdf format.STA provides teaching and training seminars for Architects, Civil engineers, Interior Designers, Landscape Architects and other Certified Access Specialists looking to increase their knowledge of proper accessibility code interpretation.
With over 30 years in the ADA industry, Janis has written and published articles on every possible topic and given solid problem solving solutions for just about any access question.
With topics ranging from hotel guest room access to multi-family housing to retail accessible route requirements for pre 1990 built facilities, its easy to see why Janis has become a leader in our industry. I encourage all of my readers to check out her website at http://steppingthruaccessibility.com. Read her blog posts and purchase her Stepping Thru Accessible Design book. It will be well worth your time and money.
Here are just a few articles that Janis has written that my staff and I have found to be very valuable. NOTE: In fact one of my ex-employees found these three articles so inspiring that they copied the articles that were then posted on our site. It was discovered and the employee was let go. The articles have been removed from our site and the original articles written by Janis Kent have been posted below. I give full credit to Janis Kent for the original writing of these three articles and deeply regret any harm that I have brought to her.
1) Rules for Employee Only Areas http://steppingthruaccessibility.com/accessible-routes/employees-only/#.VLW1c954qXI
2). Restroom Requirements for Restaurants http://steppingthruaccessibility.com/restrooms/restrooms-for-restaurants/#.VLW1nt54qXI
3) Alterations To Existing Buildings-How Much Do I Need To Spend? http://steppingthruaccessibility.com/accessibility-in-general/alterations-to-existing-buildings-how-much-extra-do-i-have-to-spend/#.VLW2R954qXI