What Accessibility Taught Me: Lessons from the National Federation of the Blind and Inclusive Teaching with Dr. Laura Rose
Moving Beyond Compliance Toward More Accessible Learning
Location
Sondheim Hall : 414
Date & Time
October 26, 2026, 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm
Description
Please join us for the October Colloquium Series event, "What Accessibility Taught Me: Lessons from the National Federation of the Blind and Inclusive Teaching" with Dr. Laura Rose.
Accessibility is an essential part of creating inclusive learning environments in higher education. While accessibility requirements provide an important foundation, accessible teaching involves more than compliance. Everyday instructional choices, from how course materials are presented to how students engage with content and demonstrate learning, can create or reduce barriers. Drawing on experience with the National Federation of the Blind and efforts to improve course accessibility, this session explores how POUR (Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust) principles and the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework can inform accessible and inclusive teaching practices.
About the Speaker
Laura Rose is Associate Teaching Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Psychology at UMBC and Program Director of Psychology at the Universities at Shady Grove. Her efforts to improve course accessibility have included participation in the National Federation of the Blind’s Accessibility Inclusion Fellowship and subsequent work on course accessibility at UMBC.
