§12183 New Construction and Alterations in Public Accommodations and Commercial Facilities

Summary

Public businesses and commercial buildings must be built so people with disabilities can enter and use them if the building’s first use began later than 30 months after July 26, 1990. If making a building accessible is physically impossible because of how it was built, the owner does not have to follow the accessibility rules in the government standards. When a business changes part of a building in a way that could affect how it is used, the changed parts must be made accessible to people with disabilities as much as possible, including people who use wheelchairs. If the work affects a main area, the route to that area and the bathrooms, telephones, and drinking fountains serving it must also be made accessible unless doing so would be out of proportion to the overall work in cost or size, as decided by rules from the Attorney General. Buildings under three stories or with less than 3,000 square feet per floor do not have to add an elevator unless the building is a shopping center, shopping mall, a health care provider’s professional office, or the Attorney General decides elevators are needed for a category of such buildings.