As part of their joint Building on Belonging study with the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) has released a new report highlighting the impact that disabilities have on candidates pursuing an architecture license. The report identifies several areas on the path to licensure where respondents with disabilities are more likely to experience major barriers than those without disabilities.
Building on Belonging is the second phase in NCARB and NOMA’s joint Baseline on Belonging research initiative, which seeks to identify, understand, and address disparities in architectural licensing. The newly released report—titled Accessibility and the Impact of Disabilities on Architectural Licensure—is the result of a survey launched in February 2025 exploring how disabilities and chronic health conditions affect individuals working toward earning their architecture license. Nearly 2,000 licensure candidates and recently licensed architects—including individuals with disabilities and those without—participated in the survey. The survey results reveal significant disparities for candidates with disabilities, including:
- Respondents with disabilities report more major barriers on the path to licensure than their peers. 50 percent of disabled respondents say they experienced major barriers on the path to licensure, compared to 41 percent of non-disabled respondents.
- Respondents with disabilities are slightly more likely than their peers to face challenges navigating the Architectural Experience Program (AXP). This includes challenges relating to receiving mentorship from their supervisor and gaining access to experience in all areas of the AXP.
- Respondents with disabilities are more likely than their peers to face challenges completing the Architect Registration Examination (ARE). This includes challenges relating to staying focused while testing, caring for their physical needs while testing, and applying for and receiving exam accommodations. NCARB currently offers a variety of accommodations for candidates taking the exam, including access to a separate testing room, additional testing time, and additional break time.
These findings are available in detail in the Accessibility and the Impact of Disabilities on Architectural Licensure report.
NCARB is in the middle of a multi-year effort to re-envision the process of becoming an architect, with a goal of ensuring that the path to licensure is more accessible for candidates of all backgrounds. As part of this, NCARB has recently implemented a number of programmatic and policy changes designed to ensure the licensure process is accessible to candidates of all backgrounds—including improving the process for candidates to apply for Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) exam accommodations. NCARB will continue to work with exam delivery vendors to enhance this process.
Over the next several years, NCARB will explore how best to measure and assess competency on the path to licensure, including opportunities to create additional pathways that might allow candidates to navigate around specific programmatic challenges. They say findings from this survey will help inform this work.
