Accessibility Matters: Building a Barracks for Everyone

As a historic site, Fort Vancouver contains many buildings and natural features that were in place prior to the passage of laws and policies that reflect the National Park Service’s commitment to provide access to people of all abilities. By virtue of its preservation, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site offers a rich overlay of historic structures, reconstructions, intact archeological sites, cultural landscapes, and historic views that provide visitors an authentic experience of place-based learning and understanding of the region’s history.

So, when the NPS took ownership of Vancouver Barracks in 2012, it was essential to plan for renovations and uses that allowed every visitor to experience the site. Adhering to the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Fort Vancouver NHS began work on both building and staffing considerations for accessibility. Over the past decade, an interdisciplinary team has identified physical and programmatic barriers and solutions hand-in-hand with the public, including people with disabilities and organizations representing them.

For Barracks buildings, some of the most straightforward fixes included:

• Adding and improving accessible parking spaces
• Ensuring ramp slopes are manageable
• Adding handrails to ramps and stairs
• Clearing surfaces around benches and improving surfaces of routes
• Replacing drinking fountains so they can be used by both standing and seated visitors
• Displaying retail items on lower shelves

But accessibility doesn’t end with building improvements. Fort Vancouver NHS provides ongoing awareness training for staff and volunteers. Maintenance staff are trained in planning, maintaining, and constructing accessible facilities, and project managers are trained in accessibility requirements and universal design principles. Staff developed procedures for assisting people with disabilities in an emergency, and created training on how to help visitors access and use assistive technology for programming, like listening devices, T-coil hearing loops, neck loops, and text telephone machines. Overall, staff regularly assess their services, activities, and programs for the most appropriate and accessible formats for delivery.

To engage groups representing people with disabilities, Fort Vancouver staff create signage, audio descriptions, video captioning, web updates, and more to let people know this place is for them. On an ongoing basis, Fort Vancouver staff works to involve community partners in accessibility improvement projects as they occur.

The best way to preserve a historic building is to use it, and in order to use an old building you must upgrade and fix critical systems – accessibility is a key part of that. It’s been an honor to make sure that when we’re getting these properties ready for use, we’re preserving historic structures, cultural landscapes, and subsurface resources.

—Alex Patterson, Facilities Manager at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site

Image credit: NPS Photo / T. Fortmann

Learn more about the role of subsurface resources in renovations here.