Using universal design for learning to alleviate disclosure reluctance

Providing reasonable individual accommodations is a major part of supporting academic success for disabled students. Yet, to receive this support, students have to disclose their disability. And many disabled students, particularly those who are neurodivergent, are reluctant to share details about their health, as the increased focus on student voice in developing a practice of equity and inclusion has highlighted.  

Disclosure reluctance as an accessibility barrier 

When disclosure reluctance is a privacy issue, it appears to have a simple fix: keep the academic and professional staff who need to know details about students’ health to an absolute minimum. At many universities, students only disclose to accessibility advisers so they can assess what supports the student might need. Advisers can liaise with faculty on the student’s behalf yet the decision of exactly what they share with their teachers is kept in the hands of the student.

But even robust privacy protections can’t remove disclosure reluctance entirely. Entering higher education is a defining moment in students’ lives, and many have a strong desire to prove to themselves that they can learn, grow and achieve on their own. 

• A practical toolkit for supporting neurodivergent learners
• Stop treating disability support as an afterthought
• Rethinking neurodiversity in higher education

Students might not want to continue the support they used in secondary school or might be unaware of what support is available at university. Some students worry that their professors (and future employers) might treat them differently if they disclose their disability. The need to determine whether outward professions of inclusivity are genuine or a façade for discrimination behind closed doors (where the “real work” is done) is a reality that neurodivergent students face.   

Neurodivergent students might be at different  stages of consciousness about their neurodivergence. They might suspect they have ADHD or ASD yet lack formal diagnosis or realise that they are neurodivergent for the first time at university. The pressure of competing deadlines, working on multiple assignments at once, the anxiety of mandatory attendance and participation in tutorials, and the experience of moving out on their own can all compound and bring neurodivergence to the fore. 

Universal design for learning as an accessible foundation

Universal design for learning (UDL) reduces students’ need to disclose disability and works in tandem with individual supports. UDL is the philosophy of creating physical environments with maximum access for the most people from the beginning of a project – not retrofitting or making exceptions after the fact. A UDL approach to teaching aims to create the most accessible framework possible through clarity of content and compassionate pedagogy.

It’s unrealistic for educators to make bespoke accommodations for every neurodivergent student in their courses. Teaching with a UDL lens lessens the impact of disclosure reluctance by making course design, curriculum and delivery more accessible from the outset. Even if students don’t know they’re neurodivergent or if they don’t want to access individual support, a UDL base gives them the best possible opportunity to learn and succeed.

Educators can make UDL-led changes to the configuration rather than the substance of course material. They can:

• design assessments and activities that test practical skills and are relevant to future careers
• align course objectives with assessment rubrics and supply these at the start of the course
• provide course materials that allow students to interact with content at their own pace, such as videos with transcripts
• scaffold the knowledge and skills needed for summative assessments through smaller formative assessments across the course 
• dissociate skill-building exercises from grades to remove the pressure to achieve while learning new fundamental material.

Variability over conformity: maximising student agency

Incorporating student choice and voice goes a long way to making courses more accessible and inclusive.

• Ask the students at the start of the course what they expect to learn. How do they expect/want to learn it?
• Allow a choice of assessment types (essay, short answer, multiple choice, presentation/video, graphic, group/individual) if possible. Providing a variety of assessments across the course might be more realistic than offering choice for every assignment.
• Allow choice within assessments (topics, varied questions, multiple modalities).
• Consider peer assessment and feedback to foster collaboration and community.

Aspire to be responsive and compassionate as a teacher; dictatorial delivery might create conformity but it comes at the cost of accessibility. Educators can:

• ask questions for students to reflect, self-monitor progress and give feedback
• signpost milestones for projects/assignments 
• let students know where they should be and to contact tutors/lecturers if they’re behind
• give action-oriented feedback on assignments
• maintain a consistent extension policy (for example, students can apply for a three-day extension but must contact their tutor/lecturer with medical evidence for anything beyond)
• model and promote standards of professionalism based on values rather than conformative behaviour. 

UDL is aspirational. It requires an institutional commitment to apply it with the greatest effect yet it can be fostered from the bottom up. Neurodivergent students like consistent course materials, choices in assessment and responsive teaching. So do neurotypical students. 

A UDL approach makes disclosure reluctance less of an issue because accessible courses lessen the need for disclosure in the first place. Individual support will always have its place, and disclosure is a logical requirement for receiving it. Moving towards UDL, even iteratively, works alongside tailored support to create a strengths-based practice of accessibility. Individual accommodations can perpetuate disclosure reluctance as a barrier and create a deficit-based practice that places the student as the source of their accessibility concerns rather than the inaccessible teaching environment.

Luis Paterson is Kaitohutohu Whaikaha (accessibility adviser) at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury, New Zealand.

If you would like advice and insight from academics and university staff delivered direct to your inbox each week, sign up for the Campus newsletter.