Before the ADA, Braille Exit Signs Didn't Have to Exist. Here's What Changed.
Most people walk past a tactile sign and don't give it a second thought. The raised letters, the row of dots underneath, it reads like one piece doing one job. Braille exit signs are actually doing two separate jobs at once, and understanding why that matters starts with a law passed in 1990 that redefined what buildings owe the people who use them. How the ADA Made Braille Exit Signs a Federal Standard Before 1990, accessibility requirements for signage in the United States were inconsistent at best. Some states had their own codes with varying levels of detail. Many buildings had nothing resembling a tactile wayfinding system. The Americans with Disabilities Act set a federal baseline that applied across virtually every public and commercial space in the country, and the 1991 ADA Standards for Accessible Design put teeth to that requirement by spelling out exactly what accessible signage had to include. Braille exit signs didn't exist as a uniform national requirement before...