36 CFR Parts 1190 and 1191 ADA and ABA Accessibility Guidelines - Preamble (Discussion of Comments and Changes)

Specifications for raised characters in section 703.2 address the depth, case, style or font type, character proportion and height, stroke thickness, and character and line spacing. The proposed rule, consistent with the original ADAAG, specified a character height between e inch and 2 inches. However, the proposed rule provided a tighter specification (½ to ¾ inch) for raised characters on signs where visual access is provided on a separate sign face because it is believed that smaller characters can be easier to read tactually. Since the specification for combination signs acknowledges that 2 inch characters are readable tactually, setting a different maximum seems unnecessary. The final rule retains the specified range of e to 2 inches, but an exception allows a ½ inch minimum where the same information is provided separately on a visual sign (703.2.5).