UD in Practice

“A qualified individual with a disability is a person who meets legitimate skill, experience, education or other requirements … and who can perform the ‘essential functions’ ….”

-Americans with Disabilities Act 

Universal design and its seven principles were created for the built environment; however, UD has been applied to learning and curricula in many design offshoots. There is Universal Design (UD), Universal Design for Education (UDE), Universal Design for Higher Education (UDHE), and more. Universal design, in all its formats, competes with UDL for attention. Since some view UDL as only useful in K-12 education, UD is offered up as a substitute for a UDL point of view in higher education.

What’s Law Got to Do With It?

• Accessibility consent decrees, binding agreements, and legal decisions are clear, accommodations must be equally effective and timely.
• It’s often impossible to meet those standards as an accommodation because accommodations are, by definition, reactions to specific need.
• “Failure to timely accommodate” remains one of the most likely ways for higher education institutions to get in legal jeopardy. 

Know what UD approach you need.

• If asked to train on UD, ensure you know what your audience needs
• Does your audience “really” mean UDL?
• Consider training on more than one model of UD if necessary
  • Vanderheiden & Vanderheiden (1992): Information Technology application
  • Hogan (2003): Employment and Marketing Checklists
  • Center for Universal Design in Education, University of Washington DO-IT and Sheryl Burgstahler have several checklists for instruction
  • Speer and Jones (2019): Process Flow Chart for Educational Program Review and Development

Arguments against UD

• UD is a built environment idea and isn’t appropriate for content.
• UD is too much work to be  practical in today’s time-stressed institutions.
• Accommodation is a better way to deal with difference in the higher education environment.

UD Takeaway

Design matters