About the CBI

Universally Designed Learning and Learning about Universal Design in Engineering, sponsored by AccessEngineering, was held in Seattle, WA on April 5–8, 2016. Its purpose was to encourage efforts to make engineering more welcoming and accessible to students with disabilities and enhance engineering curricula with disability-related and universal design topics. Attendees included engineering students and professionals with disabilities, postsecondary faculty and administrators, disability experts, and professional organization representatives.

This CBI featured the following:

• All participants contributed to its success.
• Speakers participated in group discussions.
• Experts in all topic areas were in the audience.
• Participants gave presentations and participated in large and small group discussions.
• Some predetermined professional development was presented, new content was delivered as the meeting unfolded, and participant interests were expressed and expertise was made known.

The CBI provided a forum for discussing recruitment and access challenges, sharing expertise and successful practices, developing collaborations, creating resources, and identifying systemic change initiatives relevant to the meeting goals.

Topics discussed include

• universal design of laboratories, instruction, and academic accommodations;
• the experiences of engineering students and professionals with disabilities;
• outreach activities designed to recruit students with disabilities into engineering;
• best practices for making courses welcoming and accessible to students with disabilities; and
• inclusion of disability, accessibility, and universal design topics in engineering curricula.

The agenda for the CBI and summaries of the presentations, panels, and working group discussions are provided on the following pages.