Creating Accessible Teaching and Support

In the context of inclusive teaching practices which enhance the learning of all students, it is useful to know more about the implications of specific impairments and health conditions in order to better meet the needs of students.

This section offers insight into the experience of living and studying with an impairment, defines the terms you may encounter ands suggests specific strategies for accommodating needs.

Impairments result from injury, illness or genetic disorders - but remember, your focus is the implications of the impairment for learning, not the specifics of the impairment itself. Your job is to make reasonable adjustments to teaching and assessment practices in order to minimise the impact of the student's disability.

Although wheelchairs and guide dogs are familiar indicators of disability, people's disabilities are most often "hidden" or inconspicuous.  Rather than make assumptions about the impact of a student's condition on their learning, ask them what assistance or accommodations they need. It is always the implications of impairment that are of concern to you, not the "diagnosis".

Even though two people may have a similar impairment, they are unlikely to have the same needs or experience of disability, or require identical strategies and adjustments to support their learning.  An impairment is variously disabling depending on the extent to which institution makes provisions for their inclusion. For example, a person who uses a wheelchair will have no difficulties negotiating a well-designed, accessible building, but is completely disabled in a poorly designed one. But even within the same institution students with the same impairment may have very different needs, depending on the following factors:

• The type or extent of their impairment. "Vision impairment", for example, describes a broad range of conditions with very different implications for the student.
• The student’s previous educational experience. Some may have already developed effective study skills, while others may have only recently developed an understanding of their disability.
• The nature of the study. A student with vision impairment in a science lab may have very different needs in a law lecture.
• The teaching format. A student's needs will vary according to whether they are undertaking practicum work, e-learning or lab work, for example.
• The level of study. Postgraduate study will require different skills than an undergraduate course.