The Latest: Accessibility in 2025, My POV

Summary

The August 2025 Issue of the Latest: Stephanie's take on accessibility

👋 Welcome to the August 2025 issue of The Latest!

Accessibility and Education: Insights from the Field

Accessibility is on the forefront of my teaching, research, and thought leadership.

This August edition of The Latest gives you my take on accessibility from each lens as we enter Fall 2025…

Teaching: Simplify and integrate.

I just updated my undergraduate and graduate courses on The Culture of Disability. My last major update was in 2022, and a lot has changed in 3 years.

Including the release of Disability Is Human book and Official Workbook!

Here’s what I learned about accessibility during this refresh:

• Less is more for accessible learning.I mean, so much more. I deleted several redundant readings and let go of ideas that didn’t truly serve the end goal. The Disability Is Human book really helped me streamline.
• Universal design includes multiple formats.I focused on key content that leveraged readings, videos, and discussion.  I diversified how people engage and reduced how many topics we covered.
• The Workbook is a game changer for supporting students.It gives the students places to reflect, look for new resources, and apply what they have learned. I’m so grateful to my past self for putting that Workbook together!
• I made all new videos — so much easier now!The settings for Zoom are far better than before, allowing slide content and presenters to be visible side by side. I love not signing from a small square in the upper right hand corner! Captions were better, too.
• I directly addressed AI.I provided examples of how to use it, and even some assignment examples that require a critique of AI output about disability. Fingers crossed!

Here’s where I am still not sure:

• Multiple choice “learning checks” feel like busy work.I know that students benefit from small quizzes, but they are the hardest thing to do well AND accessibly at the same time. Will keep thinking.
• I don’t know how to check for AI generated assignments without going down a rabbit hole.I have over 125 students. It’s a lot of checking for cheating that takes away from truly giving feedback. AI screeners are not yet up to par.
• Disability Is Human includes many stories, including some of my own.It’s more transparent and vulnerable than I would be in person in front of students. I wonder if that will shift how we related to each other? I’m a little nervous but curious too.

Change the game with the Disability Is Human Workbook

Research: Faculty have a lot to say.

This summer, our team at the National Disability Center for Student Success took accessibility research to the next level.

Where we started:

• Students told us that faculty matter when it comes to accessibility.
• It’s not just about that accommodations letter.
• It’s also about the syllabus, classroom instruction, and faculty attitudes.

So we went to faculty and asked them about accessibility — and we found some surprising things:

• Faculty from 2-year colleges felt more confident using accessible teaching strategies than their peers at 4-year campuses.
• They also felt more supported with resources to support accessible learning environments.
• Disabled faculty were more confident, more positive, and felt more supported than their peers without disabilities.

These survey results are just the beginning!

We interviewed faculty from across the country to do a deep dive with them about their experiences with accessibility and teaching in higher education.

Sneak peek: COVID-19 was a huge turning point for accessibility mindsets!

Can’t wait to share these results with you later this year.

Get Sneak Peek

Thought Leadership: AI in testing is gonna be bumpy.

There, I said it.

Online tests are fully entrenched in our education culture. It’s almost unimaginable that we would go back to paper-pencil tasks or bubble sheets.

And yet that’s how our current tests feel compared to what AI in assessment will bring.

What happens if AI creates and grades the test, making it tailored to each individual student? Giving individualized feedback? All without a teacher?

Is it good for student learning? Is it trustworthy? How do we keep the human-in-the-loop?

I spent quality time in DC this summer in the room with a lot of smart people to think about Accessibility, AI, and Assessment.

Hosted by the Gates Foundation, we dug into critical questions at the intersection of LLMs, test validity, disability, teaching, and learning.

I brought my 30 years of experience in research, policy, and test development to bear in this conversation. It was a career highlight for sure!

We didn’t come up with answers. Mostly a lot more questions.

But we also know that “just wait and see” may leave us in the dust. This is a fast-moving train that we cannot ignore. AND, we might be thoughtful in how we approach AI in large-scale assessments.

Here’s my favorite AHA! from the week:

Video game design is light years ahead of online test design in accessibility.  

What can we learn from the video game industry about how to design for universal access from the beginning?

I look forward to more conversations with the good people at Gates and their partners to map out a path for accessible AI.

Because our disabled students deserve no less.

Learn more about Stephanie’s Advising + Consulting