My Reflection on Universal Design...

The idea of universal design stems from the basis of architecture and the structure of our environment being physically accessible and free of barriers, for EVERYONE to be able to utilize and navigate. In class we mentioned the idea of many places in our proximal environment not being universally designed, from high closets and cabinets, to buildings with no elevators, stairs with no ramps, and subway stations with 4 flight climbs. It may seem unimportant to many people’s everyday lives, and many are unaware of the universal design that does exist, but many people with disabilities are affected by the lack of universal design.

In many of my classmates blogs, pictures of schools were posted that were not universally designed, that do not have ramps and elevators, and which would be inaccessible to the students’ profiles we discussed in class, such as Sarah who uses a wheelchair to get around. For a student like Emma, which we discussed in class a lot of universal design is needed to help her access and feel more comfortable in her environment. For example, Emma would benefit from an indicator that a fire drill is going to occur, and an easily organized space that will aid her in keeping her papers in order. Universal design can be very simple modifications in the environment that aid students in being able to be fully integrated in any setting, such as wider aisles for Sarah’s wheel chair to move freely through, and clearly color coded and open spaces or shelves for Emma to be more organized.

In the article “The Future is in the Margins:
The role of technology and disability in education reform” and in the UDL module, universal design for learning is looked at in the classroom and the inaccessibility issues of students with disabilities, to their school work as well as physical environment. This articles mentions technological advances that can aid students with motor disabilities, which may not be able to manipulate a pencil, keyboard, or mouse. There are now expanded keyboards, single switch devices, speech recognition software and word prediction available. As well as, refreshable Braille devices, screen readers, screen enlargers for individuals who are visually impaired. These technologies not only help the student but also help the teacher see the student’s true potential. Just because a student cannot speak, does not mean the student has nothing to say! The student might have not been able to communicate, and with new technology they can! I think this is very important because the same concept is used here: make the information and most importantly the ACCESS of the information available to EVERY student equally!