Skip to Main Content

Universal Design Principles: Home

A guide to assist all Loyola community members in incorporating Universal Design principles in their creations.

Universal Design

What is universal design? 

"Universal design is the process of creating products that are accessible to people with a wide range of abilities, disabilities, and other characteristics. Universally designed products accommodate individual preferences and abilities; communicate necessary information effectively (regardless of ambient conditions or the user's sensory abilities); and can be approached, reached, manipulated, and used regardless of the individual's body size, posture, or mobility. Application of universal design principles minimizes the need for assistive technology, results in products compatible with assistive technology, and makes products more usable by everyone, not just people with disabilities." <https://www.washington.edu/doit/what-universal-design-0>

Suggestions for Designing Technology Instruction

  • Provide handouts in print and electronically prior to the class
  • Caption/transcript all multimedia content
  • Describe in detail any visual cues you say in the course; for example, say "click the red 'publish' button on the right side of the screen" instead of "then click 'publish' over here