Interfaces, Volume 5, Number 2, Spring 1998

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A Message from Co-Executive Director David Rose

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David Rose

CAST is focusing its efforts on universal design in education ¿ creating software-based curricular materials that are customizable to meet the needs of children with widely different abilities. Many rationales for universal design in education exist; here are five:

Universal design makes sense from a total quality perspective because products that meet the demands of the most challenging consumers better meet the needs of all consumers.

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Efficacy also plays a role. Adapting existing products, like retrofitting buildings with ramps, is more difficult than universally designing these products in the first place.

From an economic standpoint, companies benefit from building in access from the outset. Retrofitting software and curricula for access is more expensive than building it in initially. Employing universal design principles can also increase companies' market shares because their products serve a broader audience. With estimates of learners who need special accommodation as high as 40% (including those with disabilities, cultural barriers, and those who speak English as a second language), universal design simply makes good economic sense.

From a legal perspective, universal design for learning is in keeping with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Responsible corporate and educational leaders must meet the needs of individuals with disabilities and, increasingly, the law requires providers of information to offer such material in forms that are accessible to everyone.

Of course, the legal argument stems from an ethical one. Products that are inaccessible to some consumers run counter to the purposes of public education, where equal opportunities for all learners are critical.

By following universal design principles, software developers improve product quality and design efficacy, provide economic incentives, and answer legal mandates and ethical imperatives. CAST believes that universal design should be the cornerstone of educational software design.