Board and AIA Launch On-Line Training Course

The Board and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) have developed 
a web-based education course on the Board’s ADA Accessibility Guidelines 
(ADAAG). The four-part course focuses on supplements to ADAAG that cover 
public sector facilities, including courthouses and prisons, and 
building elements designed for children’s use.  

The AIA is making this course available on its web site to train 
architects and to provide continuing education credits to its members 
and others. The interactive course includes case studies, discussion of 
key issues, and multiple choice questions.  Users can download a Course 
Supplement and copies of the guidelines.  The four parts of the course 
are:
•Introduction/ Course Supplement •Module 1:  Judicial, Legislative, and 
Regulatory Facilities •Module 2:  Detention and Correctional Facilities; 
and •Module 3:  Building Elements Designed for Children’s Use. 

Users can take any or all of these sections and earn three health/ 
safety/ welfare learning (HSW) credits per module under the AIA program. 
The course is available on the AIA web site at: 
www.aia.org/conted/access.  A version of the course is also available 
here on this web site (however, education credits are not offered 
through the Board’s site).

The guidelines on judicial, legislative, and regulatory facilities 
address elements such as restricted and secured entrances, security 
systems, assembly seating, speakers’ platforms, and assistive listening 
systems.  Much of this module is devoted to courthouses and covers 
access to courtroom spaces, such as witness stands and jury boxes, 
holding cells, and jury deliberation rooms.  

The module on detention and correctional facilities addresses the 
minimum number of cells that must be accessible (2%) and provides 
technical criteria for accessible cells.  

The third module covers alternate specifications based on children’s 
dimensions for certain elements covered by ADAAG.  These include 
drinking fountains, water closets, toilet stalls, lavatories and sinks, 
and fixed or built-in seating and tables. (As originally published, 
ADAAG, like most other accessibility guidelines, provided specifications 
based only on adult dimensions.)

The course also explains the status and proper application of these 
ADAAG supplements, which have not yet been incorporated by the 
Department of Justice into the enforceable standards.  For further 
guidance on these or other Board guidelines, visit Technical Assistance.