Accessibility Audit

An accessibility audit is a systematic survey of a built environment that measures its features against accessibility standards or codes to identify, classify, and prioritize barriers facing disabled people. The auditor inspects elements along the chain of use—approach and parking, the entrance, internal circulation, sanitary facilities, signage, and controls—taking concrete measurements such as door clear widths, ramp gradients, and reach ranges. These measurements are checked against the criteria in the governing standard, and any element that falls outside the required range is recorded as a barrier. Barriers are then classified by severity and turned into a ranked remediation plan. Framed by the WHO International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, the audit treats the physical environment as an environmental factor that can either enable participation or, when it imposes barriers, produce disability.