It’s important to integrate relevant disability, accessibility, and universal design content into computing courses to increase knowledge and skills among future computing professionals. This will lead to a workforce that is aware of and more capable of addressing accessibility barriers. Instructors can use the following curricula to fully include students with disabilities in computing courses and share accessible design strategies with students.

Teach Access logoWe partner with Teach Access, an active collaboration among education, industry, and disability advocacy organizations to address the critical need to enhance students’ understanding of digital accessibility as they learn to design, develop, and build new technologies with the needs of people with disabilities in mind. Find even more resources and information at the Teach Access website.

Curriculum Resources

Videos

Knowledge Base Articles

Example Courses

  • 6.811: Principles and Practice of Assistive Technology (PPAT) is a semester-long, project-based course at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) focused on the design and engineering of customized assistive devices for people with disabilities. Additional information about PPAT can be found at MIT Open CourseWare.
  • Perspectives in Assistive Technology, at Stanford University, explores the design, development, and use of technology that benefits people with disabilities and older adults.
  • Assistive Technology Design Projects, a capstone design course at Duke University, pairs students with health care professionals to build custom assistive, recreational, or therapeutic devices for people with disabilities in the local community.
  • The Accessibility Capstone in Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington, has students work in teams to create new applications on cell phones that allow persons with disabilities to accomplish tasks that would be difficult to impossible to do without their applications.
  • CSE 490 D: Introduction to Accessible Technology aka The Goals and Complexities of Designing All-inclusive, Cutting-edge, Technology Solutions, at the University of Washington, examines the ways in which technology can be both assistive and a potential barrier. Students are asked to consider the role of technology designers and engineers in designing for equity in a technology-laden society.
  • Research and Development of Accessible Computing Technologies, a graduate level course at the University of Iowa, is an introduction to the field of accessible technology where students apply what they've learned to the design, implementation, and/or evaluation of accessible technologies.
  • At the Rochester Institute of Technology, several degree programs require courses that teach accessibility:

Research about Teaching Accessibility