About Me

Richard Skaff, after almost twenty years managing a major San Francisco restaurant, became a paraplegic and wheelchair user after a fall. Since his injury, he has devoted almost 30 years working to create environments that are accessible to people with disabilities. Richard founded the Marin Center for Independent Living and served as its first President of the Board and then the organization's first Executive Director. In 1981 he was elected to the Town Council of Corte Madera, Marin County, California, and served a term as Mayor. During his tenure on the Council, he created the Ross Valley Paramedic program, was a member of the Marin County Transit District Board and led efforts to improve access to public facilities throughout Marin. In 1989, under Mayor Dianne Feinstein, Richard created a new program for the San Francisco Bureau of Building Inspection to assure its enforcement of California Building Code access requirements. He was appointed as a Chief Building Inspector for the City's Bureau of Building Inspection, responsible for the Bureau’s enforcement of State access codes. As such, he did plan and site review of public and private projects, training of Building Inspectors and Public Works personnel including architects, engineers and project managers, and represented the City on the State Architect's Advisory Committee creating state access codes. In 1990, he was appointed as the ADA Coordinator for the Department of Public Works by the Department's Director. Richard was then responsible for assuring that the required access features were included in the design and construction of the City's public buildings and facilities. In 1998. at the request of Mayor Willie Brown, Richard opened the Mayor’s Office on Disability as the Deputy Director. During his career, Richard has consistently worked closely with architects, engineers, contractors, product manufacturers, building officials, building owners and tenants, business organizations, and the disability community in an effort to create design solutions that are code compliant, utilitarian, cost effective and most importantly, accessible. A few of his specific accomplishments are listed below: Led the development of the first "speak-out" telephone entry system, useable by individuals who are blind and low-visioned. Led the development of the first fully accessible ATM machine (now located in San Francisco's City Hall) in the United States, useable by individuals who are blind and low-visioned. Implemented "Talking Signs ®", an information and orientation system that helps people that are blind and low-visioned move within City buildings and facilities with more independence. Richard brings his unique experience to effectively implement state and federal accessibility regulations in both public entities and private buildings and facilities. As the Deputy Director in the Mayor’s Office on Disability, he developed access code training for all City departments, wrote City-wide access policies and resolved public complaints regarding physical accessibility. He has also created and presented code and regulatory trainings throughout the United States, including a training, after Hurricane Katrina, in the City of Baton Rouge, at the request of the Louisiana Governor's Office. He was and is continuing to participate in the writing of practical and effective state and federal access building codes and design guidelines. He was one of the authors in the development of the first access guidelines for the California State Parks and has participated in a number of State and Federal access code and regulatory committees, including the Office of the State Architect, the U.S. Access Board's Recreation, Passenger Vessel and Public Rights-of Way Access Advisory Committees. He has been closely involved in the development of California access codes that presently exist within California's Building Code, Title 24. He is presently a member of the State Architect's Excellence in State Buildings Committee and Access Advisory Committee as well as the State Fire Marshal's Emergency Evacuation Task Force and the NFPA Disability Access Review and Advisory Committee. Richard has also been actively involved in the development of California's Housing and Historical Access Building Codes. Richard has traveled extensively to lecture on accessibility and disability rights. He has created and presented training material about access in the built environment, public rights-of-way and emergency related issues. During his professional career as an accessibility expert, he has traveled to many countries, including Japan, Portugal and Ecuador, that previously had no regulations requiring physical access or the protection of the rights of individuals with disabilities. Richard's input was instrumental in the creation of new access laws and policies in those countries. In early 2006, Richard, interested in continuing and expanding his work in creating universally accessible environments, founded Designing Accessible Communities, a non-profit organization.