Modern Diversity Training: Universal Design for Learning

Last week, we began our diversity training article series with a look at the use of modern assistive technology.  In our second installment of Modern Diversity Training, we will explore the necessity for making the workplace accessible to complement the emergence of assistive technology.

First, an explanation of Universal Design for Learning, or UDL, will be presented.  Then, we will move to investigate how UDL techniques can help disability employers and other professionals design training materials for individuals with disabilities.

Universal Design for Learning was developed by the Center for Applied Special Technology to help teachers identify with the vastly differing special needs of students with disabilities.  UDL provides a blueprint for creating goals, methods, materials, and assessments that accommodate learner differences (i).  Utilizing recent neurological studies, CAST asserts that there are three dominant brain networks responsible for acquiring knowledge:  recognition networks, strategic networks, and affective networks (ii).  Each network has a different function, yet together they move an individual to gather, process, and learn concepts.  Moreover, CAST asserts that each of these networks function differently for each individual.  Thus, only by accounting for learner differences can teachers, and by the same token business professionals, assist persons with disabilities in acquiring knowledge.

Disability employers must embrace the concepts set forth by the UDL methodology in order to create a diverse workplace.  Specifically, disability training programs must employ the three core components of UDL:  multiple means of representation, multiple means of expression, and multiple means of engagement (iii).  In creating multiple means of representation, employers present information pertaining to individual work tasks in various formats.  For example, a disability employer may present a single piece of information through visual presentations, written manuals, aural recordings, flow charts, and other mediums to account for learner differences and increase the rate at which knowledge is ascertained.

Most importantly, the multiple means component of UDL provides an opportunity for the communication to be tailored for the individual receiving it.  To illustrate, consider that a trainee with a visual impairment can be issued an audio recording containing instructions specific to a single task.  Another trainee with a learning disability like dyslexia can receive instructions for the same task by way of a visual illustration with minimal written instructions.  In this way, each learning style is accommodated for, each disability is overcome, and the diversity of the workplace is maintained.

Simply investing in assistive technology falls short of effectively diversifying a work environment.  Disability employers must delve deeper and consider the degree of accessibility their business provides for persons with disabilities.  Evaluating accessibility requires identifying the ability of employees, areas of exceptional talent, individual learner differences, and unique support needs.  Disability and diversity training initiatives that harness the power of UDL have a significant advantage in making the workplace accessible.

(i) http://www.cast.org/research/udl/index.html”>http://www.cast.org/research/udl/index.html

(ii) see above

(iii) see above