Accessibility isn’t just a legal requirement — it’s an opportunity to design for everyone.
A recent NPR investigation made headlines: more than 200 wheelchair users and caregivers reported continued obstacles navigating hotels, from “accessible” rooms with immovable beds to entryways, flooring, and common areas that unintentionally exclude. Not through intent but through systems that treat ADA hotel compliance as a checkbox, instead of a commitment to inclusion.
As manufacturers and design collaborators, we understand these aren't just operational oversights. They’re symptoms of a deeper problem: building environments that prioritize speed and cost over people. And that’s a failure we can do something about.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was a landmark in civil rights and accessible design. But more than 30 years later, compliance often falls short. Not in documentation, but in mindset. The ADA is not a building code. It’s a federal law enforced through civil action, not permits. Despite its limitations, it remains one of the only mechanisms ensuring equitable access to public and commercial spaces.
But minimum compliance isn’t the goal. It never was.
This isn’t just a hospitality or travel issue. These design shortcomings, and opportunities, appear in commercial interior design, education, healthcare, civic spaces, and more. As manufacturers, architects, and designers, we have a chance to go beyond minimums, toward universal design that centers dignity, usability, and long-term value.
Sonus believes that environments — from classrooms to clinics to hotels — should support productivity, safety, and wellness for everyone. And that starts with inclusive acoustic design.
Poorly designed soundscapes negatively impact everyone. But they disproportionately affect people with sensory processing disorders, traumatic brain injuries, age-related hearing loss, and ADHD.Every surface, every service, every product, every decibel is part of a larger accessibility conversation.
We don't sell products, we offer certainty.
As manufacturers, we all have a part to play in the people-first approach. On behalf of our community — architects, designers, clients, contractors, and beyond — we have a responsibility to center the human experience in every space we help shape. That means:
