BARRIER-FREE
As a contractor, you may have been
asked to build or rehab a home for
someone requiring barrier-free design.
If this is your first barrier-free project,
you'll probably have a lot of questions.
What is Barrier-Free Design?
Barrier-free design (also known as
accessible or universal design) is aimed
at making the environment hospitable
to the user, especially people with physical
impairments, young and old.
Before 1973 little attention was paid
to the concerns and rights of the disabled.
That year federal guidelines were
enacted to make public facilities accessible
to physically handicapped people.
There are still no standards, however,
for private homes. So when designers
are called upon to create barrier-free
homes, they often draw on the institutional
standards. This