National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

March 10, 1997

Members meet ADA challenge

Architects, technical assistance hotlines help schools comply

This is the first article in a two-part series on ramifications of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act in intercollegiate athletics.

BY SALLY HUGGINS
Staff Writer

Line of sight, dispersed seating, companion seating, accessible concessions and visual alarms.

What significance do those terms have for college stadiums and arenas?

All relate to federal guidelines for handicapped-accessible facilities.

How can a college or university constructing a new stadium or arena or renovating an existing one know that it is meeting the federal requirements for making these facilities handicapped-accessible?

Depending on who you talk to, it can be as simple as hiring a good architect and using common sense or as difficult as walking a tightrope without a net.

"It's frightening where this is going," said William C. Olsen, athletics director at the University of Louisville, where a new football stadium is under construction. "It's very difficult to respond to a changing environment that nobody really knows. You need rigid guidelines that include recent legal cases."

But Ron Dubois, associate athletics director for facilities planning at the University of Connecticut, which recently renovated its basketball arena, said it had little trouble meeting the regulations.

"We let the architects design and be sure they meet the codes," Dubois said. "After that, we run it by our office of diversity. It's fairly easy. Some of what's in the code doesn't make a lot of sense, but we do it."

The issues of handicapped accessibility have come to the forefront in the '90s with the adoption of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990 and the subsequent development of guidelines for making facilities accessible.

The ADA is modeled after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but its implementation differs in that structural changes rather than just policy changes often are needed, said Ola (her complete name), public affairs specialist for the U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (or access board).

"To provide equal access to society for people with disabilities is different in that you can't just change policies," she said. "It often requires architecture. To provide equality, you have to look at architecture."

Guidelines haven't changed

The access board was created to write architectural guidelines for accessibility, but the board doesn't have enforcement authority. The access board guidelines were adopted in 1991 and have not changed since that time.

John L. Wodatch, chief of the disability rights section of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, which enforces the guidelines, said that although the guidelines have not changed, each facility raises different issues, which can create the impression of change.

In cases where the Justice Department has sued a facility, he said the suit affects only that facility, not the guidelines.

One well-known facility that encountered problems with the Justice Department was the Olympic Stadium in Atlanta. Wodatch said problems arose because construction was well underway before the disability-rights section staff learned of problems. In that case, the stadium provided the required number of seats for handicapped persons but did not place adequate numbers at all levels, as required.

"The stadium has the required one percent of seats for handicapped but didn't have enough in the upper deck," he said. "We let it stand because it was late to be changing the design."

Broad range of issues

What makes complying with ADA requirements difficult for contractors and institutions is the broad range of issues covered by the ADA. The law has several parts, but the one of particular interest to college facilities is Title III -- Public Accommodations, which is enforced by the Justice Department.

A four-page document available from the disability-rights section of the Justice Department outlines what is required in a new stadium, ranging from the line of sight for persons seated in wheelchair seating to height of concessions counters, accessible entrances and routes, restrooms, and assisted-listening devices.

Wodatch said the best step a university can take to make sure any construction or renovation meets the guidelines is to select an architect knowledgeable about the ADA.

Both the disability-rights section and the access board provide toll-free telephone numbers that architects, contractors or anyone else can use to answer questions about ADA guidelines.

But Wodatch cautions that his section does not review plans.

"There is no place you can go and have your plans blessed," he said. "The protection is to put in the contract that the stadium must be in compliance."

The disability-rights section information number is 800/514-0301.

The access board has 10 accessibility specialists on the phones who understand the guidelines, Ola said. "No question is too minor or too technical," she said.

The guidelines also will be mailed upon request. The telephone number for technical support or to request a publication from the access board is 800/872-2253 (USA-ABLE).

Common misconception

One common misconception about the ADA is that if a university renovates an arena or stadium, the facility must be brought totally into compliance with ADA standards for new construction.

"People think if you do one small thing, it will trigger huge alterations," Ola said. "That is not true. The philosophy is that over time, things will become more accessible. If you replace something, replace it with an accessible item. If you change a toilet, replace it with an accessible toilet if there isn't one in the bathroom."

The guidelines require that if the "primary function area" of a facility is altered, 20 percent of the total cost spent on the alteration must be spent to improve access, she said.

To determine what a primary function area is, consider why the facility was built. If the reason relates to what is being altered, that area is a primary function area. For instance, a seating area in an arena is part of the primary function area; a meeting room is not.

If seats are added to an arena, take 20 percent of the cost of the project and spend that to improve access to the facility, such as ramps or automatic doors, Ola said.

For an existing facility that is not being renovated, the ADA guidelines ask that the facility look at "readily achievable barrier removal."

The term "readily achievable" means this: Barriers can be removed "without much difficulty or expense," such as lowering a towel rack, adding a bathroom grab bar, painting new lines to create an accessible parking space, or replacing one step with a ramp.

"The ADA has flexibility because budgets are different," Ola said. "What is readily achievable for a McDonald's may not be for a mom-and-pop hamburger stand. The access board has a list of priorities facilities can use to determine what should be done in what order to improve accessibility."

She also said that the cost of making a new facility accessible is minimal when looked at in relation to the total cost of the project.

"Making a building accessible is a minor cost when it is part of the design from the start," she said. "We have been told by architects that it is a fraction of a percent of the total cost."

Can seem expensive

The cost for changes during a renovation, however, can seem more severe.

"It does create costs and makes the cost prohibitive for remodeling, even to add a few seats," Louisville's Olsen said. "There is a lot of expense to meet the requirements. How far can you go before you can't afford to play anymore?"

However, Ohio State University athletics director Ferdinand A. "Andy" Geiger, whose school is building a new basketball arena, said cost is not an issue.

"You have to design compliance (with the ADA) into a building," Geiger said. "It is not a permissive situation. The law tells you you will build a building that is accessible."

Ohio State is preparing for a renovation of its football stadium, built in 1922, and is studying what changes will be needed to bring the stadium into compliance with ADA guidelines.

"We are looking at a massive project," Geiger said. "You need to have a good plan to make sure it is feasible. It's intense. If you're going to invest in your stadium, you have to look at these issues."

The Justice Department says that it attempts to be flexible in enforcement of the ADA guidelines. The primary goal of the department's enforcement program is to increase voluntary compliance through technical assistance and negotiation.

While the perception is that the courts are flooded with ADA-related lawsuits, the Justice Department says that such is not the case. In the five years since the ADA has been in effect, only about 650 lawsuits have been generated nationwide under all titles of the ADA -- a relatively small number considering that six million businesses, 666,000 public and private employers and 80,000 units of state and local governments must comply with the guidelines.

The Justice Department does not file a lawsuit unless it first has tried to settle the issue through negotiation. The department has been party to only 20 suits under the ADA, taking legal action only when entities continue to resist complying with the law.

"We find people are trying to do the right thing," Wodatch said. "There are a lot of good architectural firms that know the codes and will call us with questions. It can get very technical. You have to know the standard height of a person, the standard height of a wheelchair, etc."

Meet with disabled

Ola recommended that institutions constructing a new facility contact local commissions for the disabled because it helps to have input from the people who live daily with accessibility issues.

"It can be good to meet with them to see if what you are planning is a realistic way of accommodating disabilities," she said. "And it builds goodwill. It often ends up being a much happier process in the long run."

A builder may not understand why the guidelines are written the way they are. Meeting with the disabled can make that clearer, she said.

Michael A. Wadsworth, athletics director at the University of Notre Dame, which is expanding its 67-year-old football stadium, said the university met with disabled persons who have been attending games at the stadium regularly to get their input on improvements to handicapped seating.

"Accessibility was an important issue for us," Wadsworth said. "We made considerable effort to make sure that what we were doing was in compliance with the laws and regulations. But we wanted to go further than the law requires."

Notre Dame has had handicapped seating for several years but wanted to expand it and to improve it as part of the renovation. Consulting with regular attendees seemed the logical way to proceed.

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, met the letter of the law, said Bob Davis, associate athletics director for facilities, who oversaw renovation and expansion of the university's 75-year-old football stadium. The law required that the stadium provide 204 handicapped seats and Tennessee has 240 seats, he said.

But some of the changes were not well-received by the disabled community. Davis said some of the new seating had line-of-sight problems when persons seated in front of handicapped seating stood up. Complaints also arose that handicapped seating was installed under cover, which the school assumed the disabled would prefer. The university continues to meet with disabled groups to resolve the problems.

The access board is in the process of reviewing the guidelines, Ola said, in preparation for issuing the first updated guidelines. Because needs, technology and demographics all change over time, a committee was assembled to provide recommendations for the updating process.

That committee recently issued its report, which means the access board will begin preparing updated guidelines for exposure early next year, Ola said. Once new guidelines are prepared by the access board, they will be released for review by the Justice Department and for public comment.

Next: Stretching the mandate of the ADA.