Accessibility

I am currently taking a course with a professor who actively incorporates accessibility into our participation marks by providing multiple ways we can engage with the course content. One way we can demonstrate our participation is by attending our regularly scheduled classes, but attendance is only one of the ways through which we can earn participation marks. We can also earn these marks by participating in collective class discussions and small group discussions and/or uploading discussion posts onto our weekly Canvas discussion threads. My professor also actively encourages students to continuously reassess the status of our physical and psychological wellbeing and to participate in alternative ways if we are unable to come to class for personal health or wellbeing reasons. Being provided a way to meaningfully engage with course materials remotely and being constantly encouraged to prioritize my mental and physical health has eased a lot of stress such that I feel less of a need to force myself to attend class on days where it might be detrimental to my physical or emotional health since I do not have to worry about losing marks. Ultimately, this experience has helped me be more willing to let myself rest and has facilitated my overall work life balance. (Undergraduate student)

To teach writing in an accessible way means to attend to the physical, material and intellectual structuring of learning environments and processes. Instructors are prompted to consider the different embodiments and ways of knowing that students bring into learning spaces and to proactively structure the classroom to support that diversity. In doing so, instructors can also think about who has been excluded or discouraged from being in these spaces due to systemic marginalization and how to counteract these histories of exclusion.

“Re-thinking composition from a disability studies perspective reminds us that we too often design writing instruction for individuals who type on a keyboard and too easily forget those who use blow tubes, that we have a habit of creating assignments for those who read text with their eyes and a related habit of forgetting those who read through their fingertips, that we too often privilege students who speak up in class and too often forget those who participate most thoughtfully via email” (Selfe & Howse, “Over There,” Multimodality in Motion).

When we talk about accessibility and the inclusive teaching of writing, we refer to how the instructor attends to the structural and material aspects of the learning situation—the classroom/lab layout, textual or audiovisual delivery of content, hybrid learning options, timing and spacing of course activities. In that process, we take seriously the differences that instructors and students bring to that learning situation in terms of background, lived experience, and identity—culture, race, language, Indigeneity, gender, disability, neurodivergence, socioeconomic status. To teach writing accessibly is to then consider how our own classrooms and disciplinary approaches can foster that diversity and support the varying ways of thinking, learning and knowing that it entails (Accessible approaches to the writing classroom).

Addressing accessibility in our classrooms necessitates thinking about absences: who is not in the classroom, who are the students from historically, persistently, and systemically marginalized (HPSM) groups who are not able to enroll in our programs and courses (StEAR, p. 8)? We recognize that these absences persist due to structural and social barriers, including ableism, that have made postsecondary institutions inaccessible for a range of instructors and students across identities, bodies and minds, and lived experiences (Price, 2011; Dolmage, 2017). Writing and the expectation that students should be able to engage in “standard” writing practices has historically acted as one of those barriers. How can writing and writing instruction instead be used to alleviate barriers and foster accessibility (Multimodality in Motion)? To do so would be to design writing instruction with Disability Justice, specifically collective access, at the core (Ten Principles of Disability Justice).

We no longer assume that students have the material means, normative capabilities, and dominant ways of knowing that continue to govern standardized ideas about university writing. Our writing instruction should be accessibly geared to the specific classroom situation, disciplinary context, and program level of our course. It should include explicit acceptance of and support for under-resourced, non-normative, and culturally marginalized students.

Fostering accessible learning spaces prompts instructors to critically evaluate the assumptions embedded in university structures and processes about how students come into the classroom and who among them, if any, are already equipped with the means, capabilities and ways of knowing that would enable them to practice effective writing within their respective disciplines. It encourages instructors to adopt Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles and multimodal approaches to learning instead of relying solely on formal medical and individual disability-related accommodations. Accessible course design does not have to meet each student’s individual needs but rather can focus on developing materials, assessments, and spaces that benefit the learning of as diverse a classroom community as possible.

Suggested activities

• Recognize students as whole beings, such as through an Indigenous holistic framework (see Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Decolonization & Compassion)
• Familiarize yourself with key models of disability (medial and social) and the history and practice of Disability Justice (Kafai, 2021)
• Recognize that seeking university-provided accommodation requires significant effort and can be seen as a barrier in and of itself and take time to understand how university-provided supports and accommodations work and what their limits are
• Design your writing instruction according to UDL principles (UBC UDL Hub) rather than individual access
• Provide writing instructions and tasks that afford students opportunities to succeed in a variety of formats (e.g., incorporating UDL and other inclusive design strategies)
• Attend to the layout of classroom spaces, the demands of in-class activities, and the options you can provide to students
• Maintain curiosity and learn from students about how learning occurs for them, which conditions enable deep engagement, and which create barriers for them
• Provide a syllabus with built-in flexibility as well as encouragement to seek supports and accommodations when necessary (The Inclusive Syllabus)
• Scaffold writing assignments and provide feedback in such a way that students can incorporate it at different stages of the process
• Build opportunities to enact collaborative and collective learning including both instructors and students

Use cases

Annotated Bibliography

• Boston University. (2021). Accessible approaches to the writing classroom: Inclusive teaching guides & tips. Teaching Writing. 
• Chan, J., Chen, H., Cheng, J., Engle, W., Hampton, S., Iqbal, I., and Kim, B. (2023, Jan.) The inclusive syllabus. Edubytes. University of British Columbia. 
• Dolmage, J.T. (2017). Academic ableism: Disability and higher education. University of Michigan Press.
• Price, M. (2011). Mad at school: Rhetorics of mental disability and academic life. University of Michigan Press.
• Kafai, S. (2021). Crip kinship: The Disability Justice and art activism of Sins Invalid. Arsenal Pulp Press.
• Selfe, C. L., & Howes, F. (n.d.). Over there: Disability studies and composition. Multimodality in Motion – Disability & Kiarotic Spaces.   
• Strategic equity and anti-racism framework (StEAR). (2025, July 17). UBC Equity and Inclusion Office.  
• Ten principles of Disability Justice. (2015, September 17). Sins Invalid: An Unshamed Claim to Beauty in the Face of Invisibility.