For years, the staff in my office have been talking about and writing about a platform of accessibility and concepts of Universal Design. Erin largely talked about a movement within accessibility called the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework. UDL focuses designing and ensuring that spaces —physical or digital— can be used by virtually anyone. Joe, built upon this idea by explaining the three pronged approach that UDL uses:

1. Provide multiple means of engagement
2. Provide multiple means of representation
3. Provide multiple means of action and expression

Dee introduced some basic ways that we can implement these principles directly into our courses. However, while I was at D2L’s annual conference a couple weeks ago, I realized that we’ve done a pretty good job explaining what accessibility is, but we’ve never interrogated why it matters.

At the conference, I found myself spending a lot of time going to sessions, networking, and speaking with vendors about accessibility. At the conference venue, there was a room set aside as an “accessibility lab” where users could test different adaptations that students might be using as accessibility aids. Each of the three tables focused on one locus of accessibility:

1. Physical/Motor
2. Sensory
3. Cognitive

Each of these stations were equipped with a computer and different adaptations. The part of the accessibility lab that stuck out to me the most  was the posters on the wall. Each station had 1-3 posters printed (courtesy of UK Home Office) that outline a set of best practices for engaging with users that may have a variety of different abilities. These included Anxiety, Dyslexia, Low vision, and Physical or Motor disabilities. Some of these best practices overlap and many of them are easy to incorporate.

In addition to these posters, there was information about Microsoft’s Inclusive Design Toolkit. The more I read the materials, the more dissatisfied I became with our current approach to accessibility. By and large, our approach is primarily reactive. We make updates and changes to our courses when a specific need or case is presented to us. This methodology has worked to keep courses and universities in compliance with ADA (American Disability Association) guidelines. This reactive process singles out the student as other; in Microsoft’s language, it excludes the student from being able to participate the same as their classmates.

The first step to moving from reactive to proactive is to recognize exclusion. This means recognizing the areas of your course where you’ve excluded users or made it difficult for all users to join together. If you want to check your own course, look at some of the best practices listed by UK Home Office earlier. Are you using features that hinder participation?

By recognizing exclusion, you start the process of designing inclusively. Using principles of inclusive design allows you extend the opportunities you offer to one student, to all of your students. It’s also easy to think that the only students in need of inclusive design are those with permanent disabilities. For example, if I ask you to describe to me a user with hearing impairment, your first thought will usually be a deaf or hard-of-hearing student. Microsoft’s Persona Spectrum reminds us that not all disabilities are permanent. Some disabilities are temporary (like an ear infection, swimmer’s ear, or even popped ears after a flight) and some are situational (like a bartender making drinks or a person standing at a crowded train station).

When we make inclusive design changes in a course, we can address all levels of different abilities. I think this is why I’ve come to prefer the term “Inclusive Design” instead of “Accessibility.” To me, the idea of Inclusive Design put the onus on the instructor to think about how they can reach to everyone; whereas accessibility is about addressing the needs of a single user to create accommodations.

By proactively including all types of ability, no student enters a class feeling like an “other.” Changes to the class do not need to be made because of them; they already exist. All students are allowed to enter the class and feel like they belong there. At minimum, we should care about helping our students feel like they belong. Research in psychology shows that a sense of belonging can help students feel like their life has meaning, can increase second-year retention in universities, and can affect their academic performance. We should take the time to make our physical and digital classrooms a place where students feel safe and heard; we should give students every opportunity and every pathway to success.

By taking the time and using resources like those from UK Home Office and Microsoft, we can ensure our courses are inclusive by design. By opening those doors for our students, we can help those at every point of the spectrum, from permanent disability to situational assistance.

P.S. A11y is a numeronym! It stands for “accessibility” because between the “A” and the “Y” there are 11 letters. Not only is it quicker and easier to write, but I also like that it looks like the word ally.