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DISABILITY ACCESS SYMBOLS
These twelve disability access symbols are intended to help you advertise your access services to customers, audiences, staff and other targeted publics. The twelve symbols may be used to promote and publicize accessibility of places, programs and other activities for people with various disabilities.
Advertisements, newsletters, conference and program brochures, membership forms, building signage, floor plans and maps are examples of material that might display these symbols. You are encouraged to place these symbols next to the relevant information in all publications and media.
Any language accompanying the symbols should focus on the accommodation or service, not on who uses it. For example, "Ramped Entrance" may accompany the wheelchair symbol. This is important because not only do individuals with wheelchairs use ramps, but also so do people with baby carriages, luggage, etc. Language that fosters dignity is important too. For example, "Reserved Parking" or "Accessible Parking" may be used with the wheelchair symbol to indicate parking spaces designated for people with disabilities.
Many organizations, both public and private, have been working to become more accessible to this country's 43 million citizens with disabilities. Organizations that receive government funding have been required to provide accessible programs and services under Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. A more recent law, the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), extends accessibility provisions to the private sector in an effort to guarantee persons with disabilities employment and the right to enter the economic, social and cultural mainstreams. The ADA goes well beyond federally funded organizations to encompass private sector entities that serve the public including cultural organizations that do not receive federal support, retail businesses, movie theaters and restaurants.
These symbols have been saved as "TIFF" files. Your computer software program manual should outline the procedures for importing these symbols. They are also available on 3 1/2" double density floppy disks (PC or Mac) and as reproducible slicks.
Blind individuals who use a computer with a standard text reading system may also access the material on the PC format disk. You may copy the disk and slicks for distribution to your constituents, but they may not be sold.
Right click on any of these offical logos to download
 - Information Symbol:
The most valuable commodity of today's society is information; to a person with a disability it is essential. For example, the symbol may be used on signage or on a floor plan to indicate the location of the information or security desk, where there is more specific information or materials concerning access accommodations and services such as "LARGE PRINT" materials, audio cassette recordings of materials, or sign interpreted tours.
 - International Symbol of Accessibility:
The wheelchair symbol should only be used to indicate access for individuals with limited mobility, including wheelchair users. For example, the symbol is used to indicate an accessible entrance, bathroom or that a phone is lowered for wheelchair users. Remember that a ramped entrance is not completely accessible if there are no curb cuts, and an elevator is not accessible if it can only be reached via steps.
 - Live Audio Description:
A service for people who are blind or have low vision that makes the performing and visual arts more accessible. A trained Audio Describer offers live commentary or narration (via headphones and a small transmitter) consisting of concise, objective descriptions of visual elements: for example, a theater performance or a visual arts exhibition at a museum.
 - Audio Description for TV, Video and Film:
This service makes television, video, and film more accessible for persons who are blind or have low vision. Description of visual elements is provided by a trained Audio Describer through the Secondary Audio Program (SAP) of televisions and monitors equipped with stereo sound. An adapter for non-stereo TVs is available through the American Foundation for the Blind, 800 829-0500.
 - Accessible Print:
The symbol for large print is "Large Print" printed in18 Point or larger text. In addition to indicating that large print versions of books, pamphlets, museum guides and theater programs are available, you may use the symbol on conference or membership forms to indicate that print materials may be provided in large print. Sans serif or modified serif print with good contrast is highly recommended, and special attention should be paid to letter and word spacing.
 - Access (Other Than Print or Braille) for Individuals Who are Blind or Have Low Vision:
This symbol may be used to indicate access for people who are blind or have low vision, including: a guided tour, a path to a nature trail or a scent garden in a park; and a tactile tour or a museum exhibition that may be touched.
 - Braille Symbol:
This symbol indicates that printed matter is available in Braille, including exhibition labeling, publications and signage.
 - Telephone Typewriter (TTY):
Also known as text telephone (TT), or telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), TTY indicates a telephone device used with the telephone (and the phone number) for communication between deaf, hard of hearing, speech-impaired and/or hearing persons.
 - Sign Language Interpretation:
The symbol indicates that Sign Language Interpretation is provided for a lecture, tour, performance, conference or other program.
 - Assistive Listening Systems:
These systems transmit sound via hearing aids or headsets. They include infrared, loop and FM systems. Portable systems may be available from the same audiovisual equipment suppliers that service conferences and meetings.
- Volume Control Telephone:
This symbol indicates the location of telephones that have handsets with amplified sound and/or adjustable volume controls.
 - Closed Captioning (CC):
This symbol indicates that a television program or videotape is closed captioned for deaf or hard of hearing persons (and others). TV sets that have a built-in or a separate decoder are equipped to display dialogue for programs that are captioned. The Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990 requires new TV sets (with screens 13" or larger) to have built-in decoders as of July 1993. Also, videos that are part of exhibitions may be closed captioned using the symbol with instructions to press a button for captioning. The alternative would be open captioning, which translates dialogue and other sounds in print.
Please note…The Graphic Artists Guild Foundation produced the accessibility material presented above with support and technical assistance from the Office for Special Constituencies, National Endowment for the Arts. To obtain additional copies of either PC or Mac disks and brochures at a nominal cost, please contact the Graphic Arts Guild Foundation, 11 W. 20th Street, 8th floor, NY, NY 10011, Tel. 212 463-7730 FAX: 212 463-8779
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