Is Your Threshold Ramp Really ADA-Compliant? How to Know For Sure

Thresholds in doorways—often featuring a raised piece of the door frame or an uneven transition from one side of the door to the other—present a daily challenge for a variety of people with mobility limitations, including those who use wheelchairs, rollators, or scooters.

Fortunately, to address this all-too-common challenge threshold ramps are available to help smooth the difference in height between different areas of flooring in doorways and other transitions in the home. Designed to be inserted over the foot of a doorway or floor transition, these ramps allow a wheelchair, scooter, or rollator to be safely and easily rolled over the threshold, ensuring a smooth and safe transition for the patients. These ramps can also reduce the risk of tripping while walking, which makes them additionally useful for safety indoors with significantly uneven thresholds.

Threshold ramps are available in a variety of sizes, materials, and designs. Most ramps are available in either aluminum or rubber construction, and they typically feature some form of slip-resistant surface that provides an additional layer of safety. This slip-resistant top is especially important for threshold ramps that are used in doorways from outside, as these are the most likely to get wet.

Because of their valuable utility in making movement easier, threshold ramps are exceedingly popular products. However, how do you determine the quality and reliability of a threshold ramp? Alternatively, how do you know if an existing door threshold is sufficient? The key to this is ADA regulation standards.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was first passed in 1990 as a measure to provide a number of protections for Americans with disabilities, with a particular emphasis on prohibiting discrimination. The ADA set specific regulation standards to which medical and support equipment for disabled persons must be compliant. The specific standards for threshold ramps, which were established in the Federal Register in 2010, are particularly focused on the height of the front edge of a threshold, as well as the slope of the transition through the doorway. 

The key regulatory standard regarding threshold ramps as set by the ADA states that ramps must have a slope that is no steeper than 1:12. In other words, the slope of the threshold ramp may not exceed 8.33 percent. Additionally, the grade of the threshold may not exceed 2 percent in any direction.

While some standard door thresholds—particularly modern thresholds—are designed to adhere to ADA standards, this is hardly the norm. Additionally, many thresholds fall notably short of the standards. This is especially the case in old doors, such as those seen in older buildings (school buildings, for example). For these dated door thresholds, the application of a threshold ramp can be a valuable, inexpensive solution that provides easier access to the building for those who require wheelchairs, scooters, or rolling walkers.

Threshold Ramps & ADA Compliance

One of the challenging issues regarding threshold ramps, however, is that many products fail to meet ADA standards, despite the fact that many of them claim to. In fact, an independent ramp study performed in 2017 found that out of seven threshold ramps tested, only two fully met ADA standards. Specifically, two of the nine failed the requirement regarding limitations on the vertical change in level, and five of the seven ramps failed to meet the requirement for slope and grade of the ramp.

More broadly, the threshold ramps that failed to meet ADA standards did so for several different reasons. These included front edges that were too steep, as well as slopes that were too steep. In light of this, it is important to check the specific details regarding a threshold ramp—such as its slope and its vertical change.

The reason for this seemingly inconsistent adherence to ADA standards by some threshold ramps is that they follow slightly less regulation than other, more permanent ramps, such as aluminum and wooden permanent and portable wheelchair ramps. Where the ADA outlines very specific rules and regulations for construction, design, and size of wheelchair ramps for buildings, the often modular format of threshold ramps is more challenging to regulate.

In light of this challenge in regulation, the most important steps to take in purchasing a threshold ramp is to review its specifications. By reviewing a product’s size, slope, and height, you can more easily determine if your ramp adheres to ADA specifications.

However, if you'd rather have that fact assured for you without having to calculate it yourself, you might try a threshold ramp from Safe Path Products. One of the two threshold ramps highlighted in the previously mentioned study on ADA compliance was SafePath's MRAEZ 1310 ramp, which surpassed even ADA standards and passed with the highest rating.

Conclusion

Threshold ramps are an important safety tool for a wide variety of user needs, helping smooth difficult terrains to make it easier for people with limited mobility to traverse. Unfortunately, because of the lowered standard of regulation on threshold ramps, many manufacturers describe their products as being ADA-compliant when they are not. However, users can easily determine the truth of this by viewing their ramp’s specifications or by purchasing one of the threshold ramps determined to be compliant in this threshold ramp study.

Threshold ramps from SafePath Products and other trusted, ADA-approved medical equipment manufacturers are available from Rehabmart. So whether you want to learn more about threshold ramps or place your order, check out Rehabmart’s full selection of threshold ramps. You can also read more helpful articles just like this one at Caregiver University.