As a business owner, you must familiarize yourself with a variety of laws that regulate how you run your company. One of these laws is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which outlines the various steps you must take to make your business accessible for people with disabilities.
One of the stipulations in the ADA is that businesses and public locations should have ADA compliant signage. These are signs in Vermont that are specifically designed to give people with disabilities the same access and functionality to all facilities in the building as people without disabilities. All of these signs must present the same information to everyone, regardless of any physical limitations they might have.
Business owners are required by federal law to have ADA compliant signage in place. A failure to follow the ADA’s guidelines regarding signs in Vermont could lead to fines of thousands of dollars, which can be crippling for small businesses.
But there are additional reasons why you would want to install these signs. For example, this signage ensures all of your visitors, employees and customers have the same type of experience when they come to your business, which will help to improve your reputation for consistent excellence and build a greater sense of brand loyalty.
Your compliance with ADA signage rules will also help you prevent your business from being sued. A person with a disability could technically sue your company for ADA violations on the grounds that your business is noncompliant, and earn a significant payday as a result. You can avoid having to settle these lawsuits by abiding by all of the terms of the ADA with regard to signage.
ADA signage requirements
What exactly makes a sign compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act? Here are a few examples of the specifications your ADA signage needs to meet to fully comply with the law:
- Location: All ADA signs that identify rooms must be adjacent to the door they identify. Permanent room signs must be mounted so that the characters are located 48 to 60 inches off the ground. A “permanent room” is considered any physical space that will be used for a specific function for at least a week.
- Braille: All ADA signage requires tactile lettering for the assistance of visually impaired customers. Braille is lowercase, except for proper nouns. All Braille letters are rounded or domed.
- Fonts and characters: All signs are required to use sans serif fonts, as they are more legible for people who have difficulty seeing. There should be at least 1/8 of an inch between adjoining characters on signage.
- Backgrounds and contrast: All signs must have backgrounds and characters that do not emit any type of glare. Visual characters and backgrounds must have a high light-dark contrast (for example, white characters on black or navy blue backgrounds).
To learn more about the specific requirements outlined in the ADA and the steps you must take to achieve ADA compliance with your commercial signs in Vermont, contact us today at Always On Time Sign & Design.