NBCC has a duty to design for inclusion. We're responsible for making sure ALL our students can participate fully in their education by proactively removing barriers. Our goal is to design for universal learning as well as provide accommodations on an individual basis. Please contact our Academic Coaching and Learner Services team for more information on accessibility.
Accessibility: a general term for the degree of ease that something (e.g., device, service, physical environment and information) can be accessed, used and enjoyed by persons with disabilities. The term implies conscious planning, design and/or effort to make sure something is barrier-free to persons with disabilities. Accessibility also benefits the general population, by making things more usable and practical for everyone, including older people and families with small children. (Definition from the Ontario Human Rights Commission)
Accommodation: a means of preventing and removing barriers that impede students with disabilities from participating fully in the educational environment in a way that is responsive to their own unique circumstances. (Definition from the Ontario Human Right Commission)
Universal Design for Learning: a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. (Definition from CAST)
These two scenarios illustrate how the Universal Instructional Design approach to accessibility in the classroom can benefit a wider range of students (Silver, Bourke, & Strehorn, 1998):
Students find that many of the accommodations they would have requested are already addressed as part of their course experience. Course design and teaching approaches benefit many students due to flexibility and increased accessibility.
Changes to an instructor’s approaches or assessment are made for students with disabilities, but it requires them to self-identify, request specific accommodations, and wait for these changes to be implemented.
References
Silver, P., Bourke, A., & Strehorn, K. C. (1998). Universal instructional design in higher education: An approach for inclusion. Equity & Excellence, 31(2), 47-51.
Universal instructional design. (n.d.). Centre for Teaching and Learning - Western University. https://teaching.uwo.ca/curriculum/coursedesign/uid.html.