Accessibility Guidebook for Outdoor Recreation and Trails

Providing Appropriate Information About Accessibility

Forest Service policy is to provide nonjudgmental information about programs and facilities so that visitors may choose the areas, activities, and facilities that best meet their interests and needs. The goal is independence, integration, and dignity for all visitors.

• When composing copy for Web sites, brochures, and other public information sources, consult with forest recreation staff or forest accessibility coordinators to ensure appropriate and accurate information is conveyed and displayed.

• When describing a specific site or area, use the term accessible only if all facilities, constructed features, and connecting routes are in full compliance with the applicable accessibility guidelines. Accessible refers only to specific facilities, constructed features, or routes that have been constructed or altered in compliance with all of the requirements of the applicable accessibility guidelines. Electronic copies of these guidelines are available at http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/programs/accessibility/.

  • Don't use the terms "ADA," "partially," "barrier free," or "handicapped."

• Provide specific details about what people can expect to encounter. For instance, include minimum width, maximum slope, and condition of the tread surface (is it firm and stable?) on information about trails. All information is for all users.

  • Don't prejudge or assume what a person can or cannot do by adding comments such as "some people may need assistance," etc. These notes, even though well intended, are patronizing.

  • Don't assign accessibility-related difficulty levels to recreation opportunities, such as camping, boating, fishing, hiking, etc. Individuals will determine which opportunity best meets their interests and abilities after reviewing the specific information about that opportunity.

• Whenever standard outdoor recreation symbols are used on maps and other information sources, use the color blue to indicate accessible units. For instance, if the tent symbol is used to show the location of campgrounds on an area map, the tent symbol indicating campgrounds with accessible units should be blue, but the tent symbol for campgrounds without accessible units should be a different color, such as brown. The legend for the map should include the information that blue indicates accessibility.

  • Don't use the international symbol of accessibility on information. This symbol only should be used on signs at six legally defined facility locations when they are in full compliance with the applicable accessibility guidelines: toilet, parking space, entrance if not the main entrance, loading zones, areas of refuge in a building, and route of egress out of a building. More information about use of the international symbol of accessibility is available in "Use of the International Symbol of Accessibility and Other Signs" of this guidebook.

• On newly constructed or altered trails, whether the trail complies with the accessibility guidelines or not, include the following trail information, in addition to other information typically provided for hikers, on trailhead signs:

  • Destination and length of the trail or trail segment

  • Surface type

  • Typical and minimum tread width

  • Typical and maximum running slope

  • Typical and maximum cross slope

  • A statement that the posted information reflects the condition of the trail when it was constructed or assessed, including the date of the construction or assessment