Universal Design, Education and Technology

Universal Design is an approach to design which insists upon the consideration of users with diverse levels of ability. Rather than representing a specialist approach to design, it is recognised that Universal Design results in a better design for all. Furthermore, by isolating design for disability as an independent topic in education, or ignoring it altogether, educators create an exclusionist perception of the role and place of individuals with disability in modern society. Modern education programmes which teach design skills are enhanced in quality by mainstreaming Universal Design as a core topic, permeating all that surrounds it. This paper describes an approach to support and implement this, based on our experience of incorporating Universal Design into a set of three postgraduate programmes in Computing.