When was handicap parking invented

Her design was similar to what is used today on handicap signs - an outline of a person sitting in a wheelchair - but her design was not used right away since it was missing a head. No one knows why Kofoed designed the symbol without one, but some say she was trying to keep the symbol unisex. The ICTA chose her design but modified it a bit adding a head, for one thing and added color. They needed a color that would stand out, so they made the stick figure white for contrast in the design, and chose a blue background.

But many feel the symbol is in need of an update. The wheelchair figure does not represent disabilities like impaired vision, hearing loss, etc. These initial programs were modest and limited. They provided only a very small amount of handicap parking spaces that were only allowed to be used by severely disabled people. Florida was an early implementer of a disabled parking program, but it provided a mere one space at each state building and one space for every regular metered on-street spaces.

These spaces were only allowed to be utilized by people who used a wheelchair and who had been certified permanently and completely disabled by two licensed Florida doctors. The federal government began making moves to improve the situation of disabled people in with the Architectural Barriers Act.

Under the act, all federal agencies were required, as much as was reasonably possible, to ensure that physically disabled people had access to federal facilities. The government mandated parking spaces, signage, and curb cuts, and introduced the universal access symbol. The Architectural Barriers Act was a step in the right direction, but it was still greatly limited by the fact that it only applied to federal facilities. Despite this step forward, specific guidelines on the placement, size, and enforcement of parking was not explicitly addressed.

A couple years later, the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed, outlining specific, crucial guidelines for those with disabilities, including parking. Section 4. To park in these spaces, special permits need to be obtained from the state BMV. Bush signed the ADA into law on July 26, Three thousand disability rights advocates, members of Congress and other officials attended the signing ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House.

Bush described the law as, "the world's first comprehensive declaration of the equality of people with disabilities, and evidence of America's leadership internationally in the cause of human rights.

With today's signing of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act, every man woman and child with a disability can now pass through once closed doors, into a bright new era of equality, independence and freedom. Within the law is section 4.

It is this section that set into motion the creation of parking spaces reserved for handicapped drivers. The law determined that the spaces needed to be on the shortest route to an entrance, which meant that they were the closest spaces to the business.