1 Who needs accommodations? We all do.

Societally, we’re pretty accustomed to thinking that accommodations are for people with disabilities. The message is clear: Some of us are normal and don’t need them, and some of us are broken. Yet, we rarely consider the ways in which all of us accommodate ourselves every day, all day long, regardless of our abilities.

• Do you have your devices or certain apps in dark mode? Do you get frustrated when there is no dark mode option (Canvas 😠)?
• Do you enlarge the text on your phone so that you can read your texts?
• Do you wear your headphones to the grocery store?
• Did you bring your own lamp to the office to avoid the garish fluorescent lights?
• Do you have to plan your day around your hip, back, or knee issues?
• Do you use a standing desk?

These are all accommodations, but they become stigmatized and are made into an imposition and an inconvenience when it comes to folks with disabilities.

See, you may not identify as disabled, but you benefit daily from the long and tireless fight for disability rights, which gave us many of the accessible design features that we enjoy today, regardless of ability. Do you gratefully nudge the push button door opener in your building or at your college when you’re carrying too many things and have no free hands?

Accommodations are for everyone, because everyone has different needs. Sometimes these needs vary, and sometimes they’re constant, but we all have them, and we all work around them to make the world a livable, maybe even comfortable, place for ourselves.

Rather than dividing our students according to this false dichotomy of ‘disabled students who need accommodations’ and ‘regular students’, I encourage you think about all your students as people with different needs and talents. I want you to group yourself there, as well. You also deserve to exist in spaces that are livable and comfortable. How can you make your classroom (and your curriculum, your Canvas shell, etc.) into a kinder space for yourself and all your students, regardless of ability and medical paperwork?

If you want to do this but aren’t sure where to start, reach out anytime.

Accessible Design Video

Check out this short video (6:18 minutes) on how accessible design benefits all of us.