The eLearning Center for Gatlin Education Services

Overview

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 is a public law enacted July 26, 1990 to establish a clear and comprehensive prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability. The ADA ensures equal opportunity for persons with disabilities in employment, government services, public accommodations, commercial facilities, transportation, and telecommunication.

Many business facilities were built with features that do not accommodate people with disabilities, including people who use wheelchairs. To improve access, the ADA established both requirements for removing barriers in existing facilities and the ADA Standards for Accessible Design (28 CFR Part 36 Appendix A - Revised July 1, 1994) for new construction and alterations.

All newly constructed business buildings or facilities must be built in strict compliance with the ADA Standards for Accessible Design. An alteration, such as remodeling, renovation, changes or rearrangement of walls, to a building or facility must be readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities in accordance with the standards to the maximum extent feasible. Lastly, new additions to existing buildings or facilities are also subject to these requirements.

In this course, the student will focus on these guidelines as they apply during the design, construction, and alteration of buildings and facilities as required by the regulations. This course is most relevant to engineers involved in the design or alteration of buildings and facilities as some states require a minimum number PDH credits on courses related to ADA, life safety codes, and building codes.

The student must take a multiple-choice quiz consisting of forty (40) questions at the end of the course to obtain PDH credits.

Specific Knowledge or Skill Attained

This course teaches the following specific knowledge and skills:

  · Purpose and general scope of the guidelines
  · Definitions set by the Standard
  · Technical requirements as they apply to new construction, additions, alterations, and historic preservation
  · Special requirements as they apply to specific facilities

State Board Acceptance

This course can be used by professional engineers to fulfill PDH requirements mandated by state and provincial licensing boards. Decatur Professional Development is an approved provider of continuing education in all states that pre-approve course providers. In all other states that mandate continuing education for engineers, it is the individual engineer's responsibility to determine the suitability of activities for PDH credit. The state boards typically accept online* courses that cover technical, managerial** or ethical content and which are relevant to the practice of engineering. The course must have a clear purpose or objective with a content that will maintain, improve or expand the skills and knowledge of the licensee's field of practice. For questions about your mandatory PDH requirements, visit the website of your state licensing board.

*Online courses are accepted by all state licensing boards that mandate continuing education. Other than New York (which limits online courses to 18 PDH) and Iowa (which limits online courses to 6 PDH), there are no limits placed by other states on the number of hours that can be earned through online continuing education. Consult with your state licensing board if you have any questions about the acceptability of online courses.

**The New York State Board of Engineers does not accept general office management courses, but will accept project management courses that are offered by an approved provider and that are technical in nature and contribute to the engineer's professional practice.