Installation height for braille signs

Question

Greetings!

I was referred to your by our President/CEO, Blair Brewster. I am checking to see if a graphic we are using to sell ADA bathroom signs is consistent with ADA regulations. In particular, I was wonderinf if our "Accessible Restrooms Located Inside" sign belongs on the bathroom door, or on an adjacent wall (see image).

Thank you!

Sarah Pappalardo

Answer

Sarah, say hello to Blair for me. I'm sorry we didn't do more consulting work together.

I do want to make a couple of comments about the dimensional drawing of the characters and braille. Those characters would have strokes that are too broad, in my opinion. They appear to be broad, flat planes that would be almost impossible to read by touch. The braille also appears to be flat. I would suggest a drawing that would present a better example for readable tactile signs. You refer to 703, and that requires that the top surfaces of tactile characters be no more than 15 percent of the height of the character. The new guidelines also require rounded or domed braille dots (California building code already requires this).

Please don't refer to braille as "tactile braille characters." Braille is always tactile, and braille cells are not "characters." There is no requirement that they be 1/32 inch in height, either. Under the new standards, that would be the maximum height. California requires them to be 1/40 inch in height, and the 2004 ADA/ABA Design Guidelines, as well as ANSI 1998 and 2003 (and the new one we are just finishing) allow a range with a minimum of 1/40th inch and a maximum of 1/32nd inch. By the way, higher with tactile characters and braille is not better.

I want to also comment on your pictogram. The symbolic distinction between two separate restrooms, one for women and one for men (used as a directional or an informational sign outside an alcove that has two separate restrooms) is to put a bar between the figures, and otherwise, when either can use the same restroom, the bar should not be there. I know it's a tiny thing, but it is meaningful!

You can certainly put the directional sign on the door, but from a distance, it makes it look as if the restroom is accessible. I would suggest putting that sign further from the door, perhaps a couple of feet to the right of the wall sign, so that people don't have to go all the way to the wrong restroom to learn that it isn't accessible.

This is a part of the code/guidelines that calls for common sense, and unfortunately, that appears to be in short supply. I'd like to see the code/guidelines altered, but that is a long process.

In the meantime, yes, it is legal, although it is misleading.