| Though only a small percentage of the human | | | | only due to the fact that they are necessary to |
| population that is disabled actually requires wheelchairs, | | | | lawfully comply with ADA rules, but also because they |
| and most of these folks are in nursing homes, the | | | | can be used an indefinite number of times for |
| wheelchair has become the most recognizable symbol | | | | touch-ups or parking lot upgrades, and should last quite |
| for the handicapped everywhere in the world. | | | | a while before the plastic begins to warp or |
| Otherwise known as the "international symbol of | | | | deteriorate. You can even lend or rent out the |
| accessibility", the simple icon of a person in a | | | | wheelchair stencil to other parking lot owners or |
| wheelchair is the current indicator of facilities and | | | | proprietors, to help ensure their compliance with the |
| services that are designed to cater to the special | | | | ADA, as well, while making back some of your |
| needs of disabled people who have lost the use of | | | | purchase expense. |
| their legs. These range from the handrails that you see | | | | ADA regulations also require that each parking lot |
| inside bathrooms, to ramps as access points to | | | | have a minimum number of parking spaces for |
| buildings, to parking slots that are measured and | | | | disabled persons, with no less than 1 for a parking lot |
| marked in such a manner that would make it easier | | | | of 25 spaces or less, and a gradual, though not |
| for a person in a wheelchair to leave his vehicle, and | | | | proportionate, increase with parking lots of bigger sizes. |
| enter a commercial structure. | | | | At 500 parking spaces, the minimum number of such |
| Parking lots are currently mandated by law, in | | | | spaces is 9, and anything larger than that up to a |
| particular, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), to | | | | thousand spaces works on a 2 percent minimum of |
| comply with certain regulations as to a minimum | | | | the total. Moreover, a number of those handicapped |
| proportional number of handicapped parking slots, and | | | | parking spaces, again no less than 1, must be wide |
| the dimensions that these slots are expected to | | | | enough to accommodate a van that has a wheelchair |
| possess. One of the basic requirements, for instance, | | | | elevator. In all cases, the parking spaces for disabled |
| is that the international symbol of accessibility be | | | | persons should be located at points of closest |
| prominently emblazoned on the ground of the parking | | | | proximity to the building that the lot is servicing, and |
| space for a handicapped person. This can be | | | | there must be marked pathways that serve as aisles |
| achieved with the use of a wheelchair stencil, a plastic | | | | for wheelchairs. These aisles are striped to indicate |
| construct with hollow points that can be painted over, | | | | that one should not mistake them for parking spaces. |
| producing that familiar icon of a man in a wheelchair as | | | | Compliance with the ADA isn't that difficult - a |
| a result. The best wheelchair stencils are made of | | | | wheelchair stencil and some auxiliary stencils, and a |
| thick, sturdy plastic, and though they may be a bit | | | | touch-up every so often, comprise the bulk of what |
| pricey, they are well worth the investment. This is not | | | | you need. |