There’s a great deal of interest within higher education in general, and KU in particular, that we offer our full range of programs to all capable students. Further, it’s not enough that we offer them, but we want very much to see that students succeed in those programs, regardless of background or identified needs.

Most faculty members are familiar with letters provided by identified students that specify accommodations for their special needs. An emerging understanding about these accommodations is that many of them are valuable enhancements in the way we teach that would benefit all learners. Instead of seeing them as disruptions or details to be worried about, some faculty members have added these ways of teaching into their courses for all students, resulting in greater success all around. This observation is the central idea in what’s known as Universal Design.

Universal design (UD) is a concept embraced by various groups: architects, special educators, AARP, and technologists, to name a few. Ron Mace, who coined the term, defined it as “the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design”. The intent of UD is to simplify life for everyone. Making products, communications and the built environment usable at little or no extra cost benefits people of all ages and abilities. Some of the impetus for UD was to avoid unsightly add-on architectural fixes for inaccessible buildings, but in the long run people have come to see that enhanced access built into any activity makes life better for us all.