Reducing Ableism in Social Work Education Through Universal Design for Learning and Policy

A critical analysis of universal design for learning in the U.S. federal education law

“…Regardless, using technologies or assessments aligned to UD principles is not tantamount to UDL. This finding helped clarify the statement claiming that UDL has been referenced in IDEA as indicated in several research reports (e.g., Sherwood and Kattari, 2023;Smith et al, 2019). Although derived from UD, UDL should be distinguished from its precursor to avoid ongoing confusion; thus, researchers and policymakers should clarify which concept is adopted in future research and policy implementation.…”

Supporting STEM graduate students with dis/abilities: Opportunities for Universal Design for Learning

“…The most pervasive way we treat disability in higher education, the "reasonable accommodation" framework, is grounded in the medical model of disability [5]. While very few programs treat disability in accordance with the social [41], [42] or interactional [43] models of dis/ability, there is a growing call for these models to be translated into higher education through Universal Design for Learning (UDL). We introduce UDL later in this paper.…”

“…Ultimately, college faculty are instrumental in the provision of accessible curriculum and academic accommodations [63]. Under the current model, faculty are often asked to retrofit their course for a particular student after the course has already been developed, which can be a very difficult undertaking [43]. While some faculty members desire education on how their teaching style affects learners, such educational resources are often difficult to access [63].…”