Opening doors to the handicapped.

• Position: Ronald Mace's Barrier Free Environments Inc. advises companies on accessibility and product design

When Raleigh architect Ronald Mace attended N.C. State University's School of Design in the mid-'60s the school didn't make it easy for him. "It was horribly inaccessible," he says. "I had to have a lot of help, people carrying me up and down the stairs."

But what goes around comes around. Mace, 48, who has used a wheelchair since a bout with polio at age 9, is back at N.C. State as co-director of the Center for Accessible Housing, established in July 1989.

N.C. State isn't the only institution rethinking its approach to design. Businesses and governments across the nation are widening doors and toilet stalls, installing elevators and putting raised Braille letters on signs. Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 in July, which, Mace says, "is the cap on the whole thing."

"Everything that we produce, products and services, by law will be designed so people can use them," he says. Mace has a personal stake in seeing the law passed, but it's also great for business.

He is owner of Barrier Free Environments Inc., which advises companies on accessibility and product design and helps draft state and national legislation. "We are already experiencing an amazing increase in inquiries," Mace says. The company handles about 30 projects a year. It has reviewed IBM offices on the East Coast, CocaCola's Atlanta headquarters and the U.S. ambassador's residence in Geneva. Fees range from $200...