The City of San Diego has a page on its website called “Ask a Certified Access Specialist (CASp)” that allows the general public to ask certified access specialists questions about the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) standards that are applied to a specific building, environment, or space. They could also find answers that helped them understand how the city would interpret accessibility provisions under the California Building Code. However, this is not intended to be a service that renders a comprehensive plan review.
That’s where we come in. For both properties and websites, ADA inspection and certified access services, you will need to hire the services of a certified access specialist with specialized knowledge to conduct ADA inspections on your premises (both online and physical) and these consultants will offer you information and services specifically related to the ADA, that will help you establish disability-related standards based on the age of your facility and its history of alterations to improve accessibility.
Our Licensed CASp Experts are educated on the most up-to-date techniques related to the Americans with Disabilities Act per the City and state of San Diego California, and can help you avoid costly ADA lawsuits by offering a wide range of ADA Compliance Consultations and Construction Services Including:
Conducting Handicap Accessibility audits of existing facilities as well as new projects
Designing Disability Accessible Buildings, Walkways, Paths, Doors, Parking Lots & More
Providing technical ADA Website Assistance for Online Disability Accessibility issues
Offering ADA Consultations regarding the most recent and up-to-date ADA Requirements per California
Training staff members on how to comply with the ADA specifically related to your business and organization
Conducting custom ADA training sessions for clients and their employees
Developing guidelines and policies related to disability-related issues by a Licensed and Certified Access Specialist
CASp Inspectors is a certified ADA consulting firm that performs ADA audits and inspections in California. We review buildings, websites, and other spaces and environments to determine whether they conform to ADA rules. Do email us at (caspinspectors@gmail.com) or call us at +1-818-805-1915 to contact our certified access specialists in San Diego for ADA inspections and District of the State Architect (DSA) design and construction services.
The Department of Justice revised its regulations around the ADA for small businesses on March 15, 2011. The revised ADA guidelines for public accommodations (services and goods provided by businesses to the community) specify how the business environment must be built and how a small business must draft its policies and procedures so that it did not unintentionally exclude disabled persons from its built environment. This also meant that the business needed to remove barriers from its existing facilities to avoid ADA lawsuits.
DSA has been authorized by the California statute to propose and develop building code guidelines and regulations connected with access to persons with disabilities in public accommodations, public buildings, public housing, and commercial buildings. The CEO/ Office of Risk Management is responsible to make sure government departments in San Diego meet the disabilities act ADA requirements.
According to compliance standards applied in the city, the design, construction, and alterations done to private and public sector facilities, buildings, and sites must comply with the requirements of the Americans With Disabilities Act and Architectural Barriers Act. This meant that public transportation facilities, commercial facilities, and places of public accommodation had to meet ADA accessibility standards by applying technical guidance provided by the U.S. Access Board and the state architect.
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CASp Inspectors specializes in the architectural consulting of accessibility and the ADA. Our certified access specialist (CASp) and DSA support teams have years of experience providing detailed field inspection reports for community colleges and business facilities. Our goal is to provide certified access services that save time and money to our clients in California.
Contact us immediately if you want to know more about our certified access services. We have an expert advisory service for ADA Compliance and DSA based in San Diego and in a number of other U.S. cities.
The ADA covers private elementary and secondary schools as places of public accommodation; i.e., the schools must be physically accessible to those with disabilities.
The Americans with Disabilities Act is a Federal civil rights law that prohibits the exclusion of people with disabilities from everyday activities, such as enjoying a meal at a restaurant.
If you operate a Doctor office, Dental office, or similar – you’ll need to make sure you facility accommodates the disabled.
Whether you own the entire stip mall or only one shop in the facility, we’ll work with you to make sure you’re ADA Compliant.
If you own a gas station, you’ll want to make sure your pumps are ADA friendly, as well as parking, bathroom access and more.
Whether you’re a restaurant with an online menu, or run an online ecommerce website, you’ll need to make sure you are ADA compliant.
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All publicly accessible businesses must be disability friendly / accessible. People with disabilities must be able to access services offered in these buildings and facilities. They can file ADA lawsuits when they cannot find services accessible in publicly accessible properties. The California division handles the DSA general contracting and construction administration functions connected with access services compiled through CASp inspections.
A CASp or Certified Access Specialist pursues a career in assessing properties for state-specific construction accessibility standards and guidelines. The CASp is certified by the State of California to perform ADA inspections that ensure properties are compliant with applicable building-related accessibility rules.
Yes - Our ADA consultants will conduct a thorough ADA inspection of your facility in California to make sure it is compliant with the ADA regulations. In areas that need the removal of barriers like fencing, signage, landscaping, curb ramp design, sidewalks, parking lot design, handicap access, and website design, we can provide DSA services and work closely with entities related to your project including your engineer, architect, and interior designer to remove them and help your business get ADA certified.
Without a CASp inspection, statutory damages of $4,000 under the Unruh Act (Civil Code §52(a)) may be applicable for each instance of a violation. Also, you may have to pay for the plaintiff's attorney fees in addition to these statutory charges.
Construction-related accessibility standards relate to how old your facility is and the date when you did renovation(s).
California businesses that own facilities open to the public built or renovated before January 26, 1992, have to remove barriers to persons with disabilities, provided it is possible to do this. A CASp will tell you when this is possible.
California businesses that own facilities open to the public built or renovated before January 26, 1992, and March 14, 2012, must be in compliance with the 1991 ADA Standards (1991 ADAS).
California businesses that own facilities open to the public and commercial facilities built or renovated on or after March 15, 2012, must be built in compliance with the 2010 ADA Standards (2010 ADAS).
All Los Angeles California businesses that own facilities that are open to the public or commercial facilities are required to be in ADA compliance in the State of California.
To learn more about these requirements, call us now!
The following aspects should be considered when determining whether your organization is in ADA compliance.
Physical Access- Does your establishment allow customers with mobility impairments easy access to restrooms, entries, exits, elevators, ramps, parking spaces, etc.? Many businesses have yet to provide handrails on stairways. Are there signs that indicate which areas can be accessed by wheelchairs?
Communications Access - Can those with hearing loss understand announcements made through speakers? What size font is used in posters, menus, and advertisements?
Program Access - Is it possible for users of screen readers to browse through the website without having to worry about errors? What type of text is available to users? Is the content presented in color?
The accessibility standards must be met. ensures that your facility is safe and comfortable for all those who use it. For instance, if there's no ramp for wheelchairs that leads up to the front door, people using a wheelchair may need to park further away from other drivers. This can pose safety issues because he might get stuck behind cars waiting to be allowed into the parking lot. Also, if there isn't enough space between counters and tables which customers are seated at, customers might feel uncomfortable in a position that is too close to their neighbors.
Additionally, those with disabilities can use public transportation more easily by knowing exactly where the nearest station is. Furthermore, many businesses fail due to a accessibility issues. The ADA mandates that all places of public accommodations provide services to anyone regardless of disability. If these facilities don't meet the accessibility requirements, then they're violating the law.
If you'd like to know more about the benefits of complying with the accessibility requirements, please contact us today!
If you own or operate an enterprise, you're required to be compliant with the ADA. In leased places of public accommodations and commercial properties, both the landlord and the tenant are responsible for ensuring ADA compliance.
Also, under California law, the commercial property owner or landlord is required to state on every rental agreement or lease form executed on or after January 1, 2017, whether or not their premises have been inspected by a CASp.
Our CASp can assist in specifying within the terms of the lease who is responsible for which areas of the facility.
You don't want to be penalized by the U.S. Department of Justice because you didn't meet the standards set by Title III of the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Follow these tips to avoid such a situation:
1. Make sure that your building is compliant with ADA access norms as described above.
2. Verify that your communication tools are compatible with the needs of people who suffer from various types of visual impairments. If, for example, you make use of Braille signage, make sure that the information that is provided by these devices can be easily understood.
3. Consider providing assistive listening devices so that patrons who are deaf can converse with the staff.
4. Give clear instructions on how to contact your customer support representatives. These instructions must cover phone numbers, email addresses, fax numbers, and so on.
5. Be aware of the many ways that people with vision difficulties use technology. Improve access by providing computer terminals and other technologies that can be used by people with such visual impairments.
To be considered "compliant," a facility must allow equal access to individuals with disabilities in public accommodations. In addition, a public accommodation must also be designed and constructed in accordance with applicable standards and building codes. As we mentioned before, DSA services help businesses become ADA certified and achieve ADA standards that ensure disabled people have full access to public facilities.
Here are a few examples of what might not be ADA-compliant:
Restaurants that require their guests to access the restaurant through a back entrance.
A lift that can go up one floor at a time.
A hotel room without bathrooms that can be fully accessed by wheelchair users.
The DSA’s ADA Program will be responsible for the development and revision of accessibility standards for architectural design. The program evaluates new construction projects, inspections, and audits in order to ensure conformance to these standards and to see whether they are accessible. It provides design assistance for the development of special requirements that allow greater access to handicapped people and monitors the construction plan review process to verify that they are in compliance with the ADA.
Every day, we come into contact with doors that don’t have an automatic opener, streets that don’t have a curb cut wide enough to get through in a wheelchair, even elevator buttons that can’t be pressed by little fingers. Now, there are standards set in place by the ADA which you must make your site comply with before launch or at least show you are involved in and began meeting these accessibility norms on your website. Some people are simply no longer familiar with visual and interactive user interface (UI) alike, making navigation on your site challenging, not to mention stressful. Web accessibility standards that comply with the ADA law not only help disabled individuals navigate through Google but also give all your users the capability to browse through the content that you’ve worked hard on for so long!
The DSA services specialist is responsible for ensuring that buildings are designed and constructed in accordance with the ADA and other accessibility laws. The DSA services specialist works with the architect, owner, contractor, or builder to ensure that accessible elements are integrated into new construction and renovation projects. This includes ensuring that structural changes like changes to hallways, doors, and other structural issues, don’t increase the cost of construction and ensure that accessibility features are maintained through the life of the building.
A DSA services specialist is also responsible for ensuring that all new construction projects adhere to the requirements of state, local, and federal laws in order to meet ADA standards. Consulting with these access specialists help architects, building owners, and contractors identify and evaluate barriers present within the building. These specialists offer their expertise to the owner, small business, architect, or builder to eliminate these barriers. The access specialist can help you understand all available accessibility options.
We can assist you with any ADA-DSA Consultations and Construction requirements needed in the state of California. Please contact us if have any concerns about the accessibility requirements for an area or if you’d like to know more about our services to assist in meeting this requirement.
For more information about our services and qualifications, call us today at (818) 805-1915
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