E-learning and disability
E-technology lends itself readily to meeting the needs of learners with disabilities, both visible and hidden. (Hidden disabilities include conditions such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, epilepsy and sight impairment or deafness across various spectra. These are sometimes referred to as Neuro-diversity).
You can:
- make resources accessible to learners with different types of disability
- adapt resources and make them flexible; and/or
- reinforce positive messages about ability/disability by choosing images that challenge stereotypes.
Disabilities have social, medical and personality aspects. Successful use of technology for one learner with disabilities may not work for another with similar disabilities. Learners' needs can change, and what is appropriate at one time and in one situation may not be appropriate later on.
There are more resources for enabling you to use e-learning to support disability at
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Some months ago, Alice was diagnosed as dyslexic. 'No wonder I haven't always got on as well as I might when I was trying to learn something new!' she says. Dev, her tutor, has been working with her to try and work out what factors make it easier for her to read. Together, they have looked at the size of text, style of font, line spacing and the spacing between letters as well as between words. They have also considered font colour and background colour. They have done this both in relation to reading on-screen materials and materials that have been printed out.
After a bit of negotiation with the IT technician, Dev was able to achieve the situation where every time Alice logs on to a computer, her own particular settings come up.
'The experimenting has paid off,' says Alice. 'I can read far more things and I can read them far more easily. It's been a real boost to my confidence, and my reading's improving.'
Dev says, 'actually, this is something everyone could benefit from and not just someone with dyslexia. I'm going to do the same thing for myself.'
Links
For ideas and practical help on how to make the most of e-technology, click here:
Further development