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Design for All Learners
Book

Design for All Learners

Create Accessible and Inclusive Learning Experiences

Sarah Mercier
ATD (Association for Talent Development), 2025
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The Americans with Disabilities Act reshaped the nation’s streetscapes and restrooms to make them more accessible. Now, L&D experts seek to make virtual content similarly accessible and inclusive. This guide, edited by advocate Sarah Mercier, compiles advice and experiences from more than two dozen advocates and consultants to offer a comprehensive overview of inclusive instructional design best practices. Topics include such challenges as designing for people with color blindness and other visual impairments, hearing disabilities, and physical challenges, such as the inability to use a mouse.

Summary

“Universal design” practices make learning products and experiences more accessible to all.

Content designers are broadening the range of users who can access learning products and services, striving to ensure those with disabilities have the same opportunity to consume information as those without disabilities. Accessibility can involve a variety of physical issues, including color blindness or impaired vision. In some cases, the disability is temporary — a user is recovering from a broken wrist and can’t use a mouse, for example. Accessible design encompasses a variety of adaptations, ranging from closed captions for those with hearing challenges to multilingual options for users who don’t speak English.

Embrace the principles of “universal design” to help ensure learning products and experiences are accessible to all:

  • “Equitable use” — People with various abilities can use the design.
  • “Flexibility in use” — The design adapts to various abilities and preferences.
  • “Simple and intuitive” — A user easily grasps how to interact with the design.
  • “Perceptible...

About the Author

CEO of Build Capable Sarah Mercier, MBA, specializes in innovative learning technology. 

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