About

Jonathan Adler

Jonathan Adler has been involved in construction and design in one way or another for 40 years. Initially as a carpenter in Pennsylvania and Virginia, and then as a general contractor in California, he built homes, commercial buildings, and institutional facilities until 1994. After a series of projects at a university to help the campus meet the newly enacted Americans with Disabilities Act, he created Access Compliance Services and has focused solely on that consulting practice since.

In order to maintain expertise in the field, a large portion of his practice involves working as a consultant to, or expert for organizations that create, interpret, and enforce the access requirements, a distinction that few consultants can claim. Those organizations include: US Dept. of Justice, the CA Division of the State Architect, CA Attorney General, CA Department of Fair Employment & Housing and the CA Department of Rehabilitation. He has done extensive work for Evan Terry Associates, a firm that was commissioned by the US Access Board to produce the ADA Manual and which also serves as expert witness for the US Dept. of Justice.

Jonathan was also retained by the CA Division of the State Architect as a “subject matter expert” to develop a testing and licensure system for certification of disability access consultants, called California Accessibility Specialist Certification Program. (CASp). He holds CASp Certification #003, and is also certified by the International Code Council as an accessibility inspector/plans examiner.

His personal interests and affiliations are in activities that promote and improve accessibility of the built environment, including volunteer work in reforming building code regulations, speaking engagements with civic groups, and many other activities, such as election reform in Mexico (See Article) and serving on the Board of Shared Adventures, which provides outdoor recreational activities for people with disabilities. For 18 years he has provided facility planning and management for the organization’s marquee event, "Day on the Beach".

His professional interest however is not advocacy, but rather to provide clear, accurate and objective information regarding the subject, to those in need of his expertise. By working to see that the regulations are applied as they were intended, and by improving the regulations where it is needed, he achieves both personal and professional goals.