Teaching · Special Education

Put room signs where a hand will find them.

Measure each sign’s baselines, letter height and mounting, and note the braille. The checklist compares every sign with the ADA Standards and says how far to move it.

Check signsWhat you get
$5one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $5

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Special Education toolkit, $99 for 100 items.

The sign check

One check per building or wing and date. The example is made up.

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What you get

Teaching · Special Education$5 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
Each sign marked pass or fix with the inches to move it or what to add, general checks not met and a pattern note; CSV of every sign.
Who it is for
Facilities staff, teachers of students with visual impairments, orientation and mobility specialists and administrators.
Format
Browser checklist used on site with a tape measure. Saved checks; printed with the summary or as a blank form; CSV of the signs; export and import a file.
Access
$5 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Special Education toolkit ($99) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Special Education space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions about an order, access or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.
ROOM 4raised letters and braille, where a hand finds them
Drawn for this page. A tactile sign only works at the height and on the side of the door where a hand expects to find it.

How to use it

  1. Start a check with a building code and the date.
  2. Mark the general checks that hold for every sign.
  3. Add each sign with its measurements to the character baselines.
  4. Note where it is mounted and whether it has Grade 2 braille.
  5. Print the fixes for facilities or the sign maker.

Check signs

How tactile signs are placed

The main numbers

Tactile characters sit with their baselines between 48 and 60 inches above the floor; uppercase letters are 5/8 to 2 inches high; Grade 2 braille goes below the text. The sign goes on the latch side of a single door, or on the nearest wall when there is no room there.

Why it matters

A student who reads braille or raised print, or who is learning to travel the building independently, depends on finding every room sign in the same place at the same height.

What this is not

A complete review of section 703. Visual-only signs, pictograms and directional signs have their own rules.

Sources

  1. U.S. Department of Justice, 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design, section 703: 703.2 (raised characters), 703.3 (braille), 703.4 (installation height and location), 703.5 (visual characters).
  2. 2010 ADA Standards, 216.2: signs identifying permanent rooms and spaces must be tactile.
  3. U.S. Access Board, Guide to the ADA Accessibility Standards, Chapter 7: Signs.
  4. Braille Authority of North America, rules for Unified English Braille (contracted, formerly Grade 2).

The example building is made up. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.