Introduction to Accessible Design

Course Outline

The Fair Housing Act is a federal civil rights law intended to protect qualified persons with disabilities from discriminatory housing practice. It covers a wide range of legal and regulatory issues with regard to Americans with disabilities. This course is designed to help designers and builders in understanding the accessibility requirements of the Fair Housing Act. Students will get familiar with the definitions of various terms associated with barrier free design and the applicability of the Fair Housing Act. In addition, a list of common violations of the Fair Housing Act design and construction requirements is provided.

This course includes a multiple choice quiz at the end.

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course, the student will:

• Be familiar with the layout of Fair Housing Act Design Manual,
• Understand the role of the HUD in enforcing the compliance with Fair Housing Act,
• Learn the technical requirements for basic accessible elements and spaces, and
• Be aware of common violations of the Fair Housing Act Design and Construction Requirements.

Course Content

In this course you need to study the following documents:

The Fair Housing Act Design Manual - Introduction (PDF, 30 pages)
Common Violations of the Fair Housing Act Design and Construction Requirements (HTML)

Course Summary

The Fair Housing Act Design Manual provides guidelines and specifications for accessibility to mutilfamily dwellings by individuals with disabilities. These guidelines are to be applied by engineers and architects during the design, construction, and alteration of such buildings and facilities to the extent required by regulations issued by Federal agencies, including the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Related Links

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.