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## Universal design for learning

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a proactive educational approach that addresses diverse student needs by anticipating common access requirements from the outset. It's much less effort for everyone involved, students and instructors alike, when these needs are met upfront.

With all of the modern educational tools we have at our disposal, the possibilities for supporting students in their learning have widened dramatically over the decades, but they are not being utilised.

Our lives are filled with technologies and tools that help people, disabled or not, function more easily. Items like stairs, escalators, scissors, washing machines, and other tools are accepted as essential for any person's day-to-day functioning. No one questions their use or considers them unnecessary accommodations. Yet, technologies and supports designed to make life easier specifically for disabled people---such as documents formatted in accessible ways---are often seen as unnecessary, burdensome, or special treatment.

As Wilson (2017) notes, this disparity is an example of what Alison Kafer calls the invisibility of nondisabled access and the hypervisibility of disabled access. Both stairs and ramps provide access, but only stairs go "unmarked as access; indeed, it is only when atypical bodies are taken into account that the question of access becomes a problem." (Kafer, 2013).

UDL views disabled and non-disabled access needs at equal levels of importance, utilising new tools and common adjustments to support all students. Inclusive strategies ensure all students, whether disabled or not, have equal access to learning. These adjustments, like providing materials in advance or utilising lecture capture effectively, become standard practices that benefit all learners. Embracing UDL is not a big deal; it's simply about providing what each student needs to thrive and making education fairer and more effective for all. Even small changes can make a huge improvement in the educational outcomes and wellbeing of students.