Chapter 3: Disability, Access, and Inclusion

This contribution explores the implementation of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in the context of language education, and makes a case that despite the outwardly good intentions of this framework, it sometimes excludes the same Disabled people whom it claims to serve from decision-making around their multilingual learning and curriculum choices involving additional language classes. In place of an idealized Universal Design, we advocate for learning and program outcomes that center Disabled people’s desires and needs, and general recognition of the possibility that additional language classes offer a unique opportunity for Disabled learners to grow and thrive.

Keywords

Disability, Language Education, Second Language Studies, Sociolinguistics, Second Language Acquisition, Applied Linguistics, Educational Linguistics, Native-speakerism, Asset-based approach