Digital Accessibility

Teaching inclusion guidelines

These guidelines will help staff design and deliver teaching in accordance with the University of Glasgow’s Equality & Diversity and Accessible & Inclusive Learning policies.

Following the principles set out in the policies is not only important because it is a legal requirement; as educators, we have a moral duty to ensure that all learners have a fair chance to achieve their potential.

These guidelines therefore focus on how to approach teaching with an inclusive outlook, rather than on specific responsibilities. They are guided by the Equality Act (2010) and Digital Accessibility Regulations 2018, and underpinned by the Association for Learning Technology’s Framework for Ethical Learning Technology and Universal Design for Learning Guidelines.

1. Assume your classroom is widely diverse

• At the University of Glasgow, 11.7% of our students have disclosed their disability status in 2024, but the number of disabled students is probably higher due to underreporting and the barriers to medical diagnosis
• Not only disability, but intersectionality should be taken into account as well
• Your speech should reflect this knowledge: avoid talking about minority groups in an abstracted, othering way

2. Don’t overlook the effects of privilege and bias

• All of us carry unconscious bias. The university provides many equality and diversity courses for staff, including one about unconscious bias, that can be used to keep you grounded.

3. Treat inclusion as a design principle

• Accessibility and inclusion should be anticipatory; they should be influencing factors at the point of design. This benefits both students and teaching staff.
• The Universal Design for Learning framework can help you think about how to create teaching materials, spaces and practices that serve as many different kinds of learner as possible

4. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice

• If you are unsure regarding a specific accessibility and inclusion implementation strategy, it’s good to ask for guidance. You can contact the University’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team. You can also contact your school’s Disability Officer.
• Alternatively, you can contact the Students’ Representative Council (SRC)’s VP of Student Support or their Disability Equality Officer

5. Take the Implementing Reasonable Adjustments for Students course

• This is specifically designed for staff working in education. It can help you better understand what your legal duties are regarding accessibility and inclusion.

6. Co-design your content and teaching materials

• Co-designing materials with those who will directly engage with them leads to more effective design
• The University’s design guidance for blended teaching has some advice on this, but at its core, co-design involves including your students’ opinions in the process of creating the materials they will use

7. Don’t design reading lists with materials that are not readily accessible

• Our Accessible & Inclusive Learning Policy states that ‘the University community will, wherever possible, ensure that all teaching materials are made available to students in advance’
• Here is guidance on how to digitise readings. You can also ask the library to purchase a physical/digital copy of a book, journal issue or article with this contact form.
• Whenever a digitised version of a chapter is available, avoid using a scanned version, as screen readers cannot process it, unless it is made readable by a tool called Optical Character Recognition (OCR). Here is guidance on PDF accessibility features in general, including OCR.

8. Use inclusive language and terms

• Keep up to date with the correct terminology associated with a group. This will always be the terminology developed by members of that group. For example, autistic people prefer to use the term ‘autistic person’ to ‘person with autism’.
• Here is an essay by Andrew Pulrang about terminology, which terms are out of fashion and why you hear different ways of talking about the same thing

9. Use appropriate images

• It is important to portray and represent individuals and groups with respect and accuracy. The university has an extensive image library as well as a license agreement with Shutterstock.

10. Don’t reject criticism

• Constructive criticism is an opportunity to learn. Everyone makes mistakes, and everyone should be given the opportunity to try again with helpful feedback!

11. Check useful resources

For example,

• University of Glasgow
  • Inclusion as a design principle (a list of minimum standards at the UofG)
  • Neurodiversity Resource Hub (a hub to promote neurodiversity and support neurodivergent staff and PGRs)
  • Neurodiversity Network (a Teams group for all staff and students)
  • Communication Community of Practice (an open and positive space in Teams for all communication professionals)
• UK Government
  • Inclusive language: Words to use and avoid when writing about disability (a basic government guide for disability-related terminology)
• Council of Europe
  • Guidelines for the use of language as a driver of inclusivity (guidelines on the use of gender-inclusive language; while the focus is discrimination against a particular sex, gender or gender identity, the principles are useful for other contexts)
• HubSpot
  • Inclusive language: How to use and promote it at your organization (an explanation of inclusive language with examples to create an inclusive workplace)