You may be using the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Texas Accessibility Standards (TAS), the Uniform Accessibility Standards (UFAS), the Fair Housing Act Design Manual (FHADM), or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (the list goes on and on depending on where the project is and how it’s funded), but the important common thread is that we who work in the built environment provide safe and accessible buildings, spaces, and services for the public. And while each guidance material differs slightly, they are striving towards the same goal.

I have often heard someone say that we do not use TAS, we only deal with the ADA or some other guidance material. But quite honestly, the TAS has only 11 differences from the ADA; many state and local guidance materials have as many, or even more restrictive, deviations to meet local laws, ordinances, or concerns. And as an organization, when we consider responses or comments on a new proposal or a revision of an existing practice, APA gathers the input from our members, drawing on their wealth of experience and depth of knowledge to provide the best, most concise input on these efforts. We are “Stronger Together,” not in spite of our regulatory backgrounds, but because of them.