Students come to our higher education classrooms with a wide variety of knowledge, skills, talents, and abilities. As educators, we want all students to be successful and feel supported in an inclusive learning environment. Many of our students have disabilities that they may or may not disclose to faculty and staff. Typically, the process of providing required documentation and identifying appropriate accommodations is a collaborative effort between the student and the disability services staff. Faculty are not a part of this process and may not be aware of the rationale or implications. In this module, we begin with an introduction to students with disabilities and the process of obtaining services and academic accommodations. This module also highlights key United States and international legislation that relates to higher education students with disabilities.

In this module, we describe the process used for deciding on reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities and the role of Disability Services in making this determination. We identify specific accommodations that students with disabilities might need to participate in university life.

In the first two modules, we reviewed disability definitions and legislation, disability services, accommodations, and assistive technologies you might find on your college campus. In this module, we focus on applying universal design principles to the design and development of accessible instruction and course materials.

Please read the following case scenarios and respond to the corresponding questions on the discussion boards.