The design requirements for tactile signage comes from the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), with the Justice Department enforcing the current design standards. The ADA, as the first comprehensive federal civil rights law protecting individuals with disabilities, protects the right of access to and inside of public and private entities. The meaning of “disability,” as defined by the ADA, includes (1) a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities of an individual; (2) a record of such an impairment; or (3) being regarded as having such an impairment. Blindness and low vision are among those impairments falling within the scope of the federal definition, and when it comes to your hospitality service or assisted living facility, you will need to prepare a way-finding plan that accommodates such issues. HOTELSIGNS.com can assist with all compliance-related interior signage.
Primarily, Intersign works with those business entities characterized as places of public accommodation. Public Accommodations are private entities that are open to the public or that provide goods or services to the public (i.e. hotels, healthcare facilities, etc). Such businesses fall within the scope of the ADA Title III regulations at 28 CFR part 36, subpart D and the 2004 ADAAG at 36 CFR part 1191, appendices B and D. The aggregation of these code sections produce the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design. Specifically, Intersign occupies that corner of the ADAAG dealing with tactile and visual signage: technical requirements for both are found in Appendix D, chapter seven, Communication Elements And Features. Section 703, outlines the only two categories of signs falling within federal design standards, tactile and visual. These specifications facilitate uniformity and clarity for those with blindness or very low vision. Correct installation of those signs, too, assists guests in navigating such places as hotels, confident of the location and the content of the signs. Accessibility signs must comply with correct scoping rules (§216.2), and exceptions to these rules include general building directories, addresses, proper names, and company names and logos (§216.1).
Tactile signs designate permanent rooms and spaces, and incorporate two major components: raised characters and braille. First, raised characters are comprised of elements such as text height, width, and spacing (§703.2.1 – 703.2.8). In order to be effective, raised characters must rise at least 1/32 of an inch from the sign’s background (§703.2.1). Second, the numerical or alphabetical identifiers must be duplicated in Grade 2 braille, which is simply a contracted, short-hand form of braille (§703.3). Braille must be domed or rounded according to the design standards (§703.3.1), but braille should be both domed and rounded so as to avoid confusion by the reader.
Alternatively, visual sign components offer more flexibility in technical specifications. As such, serve to offer direction or information about facility use. While most of the visual specifications mirror tactile specifications, implementation is different. For example, tactile signs require a minimum text height of .625 inches; whereas, visual requires the same at minimum but has no maximum height limit in place (§703.5.5). Character style is one of the most significant differences under the visual category. Unlike tactile text (strictly uppercase), visual text may be upper, lower, or sentence case. Once the specifications are worked out within the four corners of the physical sign, installation is the next priority. Because visual signs are purposed towards the use of a facility, installation depends on logical placement. Check out our comprehensive HOTELSIGNS.com sign installation guide for further reference.
At HOTELSIGNS.com, you can be confident that each of our signs complies to all standards set forth by ADA Title III regulations, 2004 ADA Accessibility Guidelines, and the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design. We pride ourselves in offering signs of all types and sizes. So if a sign has visual only information, our signs will repeat the text using tactile letters and grade 2 braille. However, that gives us the creative freedom to present unique sign styles not offered elsewhere—like our Parallels sign collection, for example. So, if you are seeking a change for your walls, reach out to us! We are ready and eager to work together and create a completely customized sign style just for you—while also working our magic to ensure that the signs will be in full compliance with all applicable ADA guidelines.
Each of our signs is covered by unparalleled guarantees, including Life of the Building and ADA Compliance. If you have any questions about visual and tactile signage/standards, please contact us at 800.322.8426 or hotels@hotelsigns.com. We can’t wait to hear from you!