Universal Design for Learning: Exploring Perspectives of Students with Disabilities in Higher Education

The number of students with disabilities has increased significantly in recent years, with up to 21% reporting a disability in 2020. These students continually face challenges in completing their college education. Universal design for learning (UDL) has been proposed to help such students overcome these challenges. UDL maximises accessibility by considering the diverse learning needs of a wide range of learners and leads educators to appreciate the uniqueness of each student. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perspectives of students with disabilities on UDL teaching practices in a higher education setting. The study used interpretative phenomenological analysis to explore participants’ learning experiences with UDL teaching practices. We conducted three online focus groups with an overall total of 10 participants to collect data. The results demonstrated seven themes describing how UDL teaching practices benefited participants’ learning experiences and addressed their learning needs. Related discussions and future research implications are presented.