User:Sharon Toji

I have become, over the past 22 years, an acknowledged expert in the communications section of what would be called disabled access (or sometimes universal design), as it relates to the architectural, or "built" environment. What this translates to, usually, in the United States, is the Americans with Disabilities Act, or "ADA." When the law was signed back in 1990, it had various titles, and Titles 2 and 3 mandated that persons with disabilities be able to enter and use sites and buildings and (in state and local government units) programs, if they were open to the general public. This, in term, triggered states to amend their building codes to encompass the concept of disabled access. In order to codify that, the federal government tasked the "Access Board," a government agency, to write regulations that were originally called the ADA Accessibility Guidelines, or "ADAAG." I have been involved in working with these standards since 1991, when I first contacted the Access Board to discuss the standards for signs. At the same time, I contacted the Division of the State Architect in Sacramento California, about the state building code, which included similar guidelines, in the guise of building codes. Because of work I did with these two agencies, and an article I wrote for a sign trade magazine, people requested that I write a manual, which I did, and I was invited as a panelist or speaker throughout the United States. I was then asked (in 1992), to become a voting delegate to the American National Standards Institute A117.1 Committee on access to the built environment. This Committee writes all the standards for disabled access that are then used by the Access Board, as well as the International Code Council (ICC) to write federal standards, and the International Building Code, which is adopted in whole or part by most states.

I now represent the Hearing Loss Association of America on the ANSI Committee, and am also a member of three committees for the state of California that deal with disabled access. I have a company that provides consulting and educational materials for architects, sign designers and sign companies, code officials and inspectors, and building owners, called "Access Communications." I continue to write articles and give seminars and workshops, to provide free assistance to people who call me daily, as well as participate on various "expert" website panels.

As a fellow graduate of Reed College with your founder, Larry Sanger, I read about this site, and decided to add my entries on the topic of communicating in the built environment with people of all abilities.