UNITED KINGDOM Accessibility White Paper

Nova White Papers – Accessibility SeriesUNITED KINGDOM

International Accessibility Standards: UNITED KINGDOMSummary

The Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 (DDA) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which which has now been repealed and replaced by the Equality Act 2010(EA) in most of the UK except for Northern Ireland. This act consolidate the DDA with the Disability Equality Duty(DDE) which requires public agencies to promote opportunities for the disabled. The DDA and later EA required that by October 2004 all “reasonable adjustments” must be made to ensure that building are accessible. Included in these improvements are signs. The EA is civil rights legislation where legal and civil actions can be enforced against institutions not in compliance. There are two sections in the EA that focuses on signs: •AuxilleryAidsorServicesthatmakeiteasiertoutilizeservicesliketactilemapsorlargerprint •Overcomingbarrierslikehardtoreadorusesigns

LiketheADA.TheEAismeanttorespondtotheneedsoftheblindandvisuallyimpaired.TheEAispartiallyprescriptive but also offers recommendations for creating more accessible environments through maps and tactile surfaces.TheprescriptiveelementsoftheEAarelocatedintheRegulatoryCodetitleBS8300.

Equality Act of 2010

Scope•TheEAfocusesonpermanentidentificationsignsfortactilelettersandBrailleandwayfinding/identification

signs for legible letter heights and color contrast.•TheEAalsoprovidesadviceontactilemaps,audiblesignsanddirectionalsigns.

Braille•IntheUKGrade1orGrade2Braillecanbeused.Grade1isaformofBraillethatcomplieswiththeUnifiedBrailleCode,aformofBraillewherealllettersandnumbersaregivenaBrailleequivalent.Formorecomplexsignswithlengthiertext,Grade2Braille,whichusesashorthandapproachforwords,canbeused.

•IntheUKaraisedleaderisusedatthebeginningofthefirstlineofBrailleeitherwhentheBrailleisinasingleline or multiple lines.

Visual Characters •Charactersandnumbersonsignsneedtobesizedaccordingtotheviewingdistanceandheightabovegroundfromwhichtheyaretoberead,butthereisnoformalcalculation.

Tactile Characters•Lettersandnumbersmustberaised0.75mm.•Uppercaseorupper/lowercasetactileletterscanbeusedonsigns.•Signsmustbesansseriforsimpleseriftypeandraisedcharactersshouldbeaminimum16mminheight,

but not more than 50mm. •Tactilelettersandnumbersonsignsshouldhaveawidth-to-heightratiobetween3:5and1:1and astroke-width-to-heightratiobetween1:5and1:10.

•Alltactilecharactersaswellasthesignitselfareencouragedtoberoundedoredged.

Sign Height and Location•Signsshouldbeinstalledonthewalladjacenttothelatchsideofthedoor.Wherethereisnowallspacetothelatchsideofthedoor,includingatdoubleopeningdoors,signsshouldbesitedonthenearestadjacentwall.

•Mountingheightshouldbe1525mmabovefloorleveltothecenterofthesign.Thechosenlocationforasignshouldallowapersontoapproachwithin75mmofthesignwithoutencounteringprotrudingobjectsorstanding within the swing range of a door.

Color Contrast•Allsignsmusthavealightbackgroundonadarksurfaceoradarkbackgroundonalightsurface.•Allsigncharactersmusthaveamatteoralowglossfinish.

Symbols and Pictograms•Theuseofpictogramsishighlyencouragedwithtactilepictogramsusedwhereappropriate•Theinternationalsymbolofaccessibilitymustbeusedtomarkaccessibleareas.•Equivalenttextisrequiredbelowortotherightofallpictograms.•Pictogramsshouldbeaccompaniedbytheequivalenttextdescriptionpositioneddirectlybeloworalongside

the pictogram. The border of the pictogram should be a minimum height of 150mm.

Miscellaneous•TheEAencouragestheuseofaccessibleinnovationsliketactilemapsanddetectablesurfaces. ManyoftheseinnovationsaredevelopedorencouragedbytheRoyalNationalInstituteoftheBlind(RNIB).

•OndirectionalsignstheEAencouragesarrowsbeplacedwiththesamedirectionbeinggroupedtogether.

Design Recommendations•ThecodeoftheUKissimilartomanyinternationalcodes,butdeviatesinsignificantwaysfromthecurrentAmerican’swithDisabilitiesAct.Besuretoidentifythesechangesandsimilaritiesifdevelopingamulti-nationalsign system.

•OrganizationsliketheRNIBcanproviderecommendationsandbestpracticesforaccessibleenvironmentsandsystemsincludingmaps,detectablesurfaces,andtalkingsigns.

•Itisadvisabletohaveawayfindingprofessionaldevelopacompleteauditofthebuilding’saccessibilityneedsbeforebeginningaprogram.TheRNIBhasstaffthatconductsaudits,andtheyareconductedbyotherprofessional groups as well.

•UseonlymetricunitswhenworkingwithUKcodes.Englishequivalentsareonlyapproximate.•Grade1Brailletakesupasignificantamountofspaceonasigncanpotentiallylimittheamountofinformationthatcanbeused.IntheUKitcanbesubstitutedforGrade2Braille.

•Makesuretousetheinternationalsymbolofaccessibilitywithfewchangesindesign.

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Sign height and location

Sign details