Who are we Accommodating? 

Our student body here at UIUC is incredibly diverse. While it is easy to adopt a “one-size-fits-all” approach to instructing our student body, it is important to acknowledge that many students have accessibility needs that enable them to be as successful as possible. So, who are these students and how can we accommodate them?

Students with Disabilities

While “students with accessibility needs (SWAN)” broadly refers to any student who has difficulties interacting with standard methods of instruction, students who live with disabilities can be especially helped by accessibility arrangements.

Notably, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires universities to provide reasonable accommodation to these students with disabilities. Students can apply for disability-related accommodations through DRES to obtain a Letter of Academic Accommodations. However, interested instructors can also proactively provide some of these accommodations in the form of Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

Here are some common disabilities and how methods like UDL can help:

1. Vision Impairment: Students’ vision impairment lies on a spectrum from low vision to totally blind. This may present difficulties in attending lectures or following instructional material. When instructing students with visual impairments, avoid nonverbal cues and try providing alternative accessible learning and assessment formats where possible, such as recording lectures and supporting assistive technologies. For students with relatively stronger vision, it may be sufficient to provide closer seating, better lighting, or larger print sizes of instructional materials.
2. Hard of Hearing: Similar to vision impairment, students who are hard of hearing lie on a spectrum of degree of hearing loss. In the classroom, instructors can try speaking slowly and enunciate (without over-enunciating) words so that lip readers or partially deaf students can more easily follow along. Outside the classroom, providing textual lecture materials, captioning, and assistive technologies are all key to improving accessibility for hard of hearing students.
3. Other Physical Disabilities: Students with physical disabilities are highly individual and affect their accessibility needs in many ways. In general, ensure that classroom layouts are free from obstructions and provide alternative learning formats for students who find it difficult to reliably attend class. But, ultimately, it is important to understand the accessibility needs from the student and accommodate accordingly.
4. Learning Disabilities: Students with learning disabilities face neurologically-based difficulties that may disturb attention, acquisition of skills, expression of understanding, or executive functions. In the classroom, this may manifest in difficulties following course materials, completing assignments on time, or lacking organization. Depending on the learning disability, using a variety of instructional modes, alternative learning/assessment formats, individual accommodations, and patience are powerful ways to improve the accessibility and effectiveness of education for these students.

During this semester, we will present many different UDL tools that proactively enhance learning and accessibility for all students.

Dig Deeper

Learn more about the Americans with Disabilities Act

• ADA from the student’s perspective
• ADA at UIUC

Research about accommodating students with disability

• Academic success factors in university students with disabilities: a systematic review
• Assistive technology for the inclusion of students with disabilities: a systematic review
• Effects of disability-related services, accommodations, and integration on academic success of students with disabilities in higher education. A scoping review

See you again next time!

-UDL and Accessibility Group
https://publish.illinois.edu/udl-accessibility-group/
gcoe-udlgroup@illinois.edu