National Disability Mentoring Coalition
Association for Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD)
University of Washington (Education)
CSUN Assistive Technology Conference (Center on Disabilities)
Online Learning Consortium (OLC)
National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE) Education Foundation
U.S. Presidential Awards (PAESMEM)
National Information Infrastructure (NII) Awards Program
Founder and Director, DO‑IT Center, University of Washington
Director, Accessible Technology Services (ATS), University of Washington
Director, Access Technology Center (ATC), University of Washington
Sheryl Burgstahler is an Affiliate Professor in the College of Education at the University of Washington and a longtime leader in accessible educational technology. She founded the DO‑IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) Center at UW in 1992 and, through 2023, directed Accessible Technology Services (including DO‑IT and the UW‑IT Access Technology Center). In January 2024 she stepped down from those director roles to focus on teaching, writing, and speaking while continuing to advance universal design in higher education. She also serves as online faculty in Disability Studies at the CUNY School of Professional Studies. Her work emphasizes universal design of instruction and IT, accessibility of online learning, and widening participation in STEM and computing for people with disabilities. citeturn2search3turn19search0turn15search0
A campus‑wide framework that integrates the principles of universal design (and UDL) with IT accessibility to guide inclusive design of courses, student services, physical spaces, and digital resources. It emphasizes building toolkits of principles, guidelines, practices, and processes to reduce the need for individual accommodations and to support an Inclusive Campus Model.
Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice • Journal
The rapid pivot to online courses and services exposed persistent accessibility gaps for students with disabilities. This article proposes a Universal Design in Higher Education (UDHE) Framework to guide inclusive design of online courses and student services and outlines roles that campus stakeholders can play in advancing accessibility.
American Behavioral Scientist • Journal
Reporting on efforts associated with a neuroscience‑focused Engineering Research Center, the authors document promising practices that increase inclusion of people with disabilities in STEM. They highlight universal design approaches, mentoring, internships, and capacity‑building activities, and discuss outcomes and recommendations for institutions seeking to broaden participation.
ACM Inroads • Journal
This article outlines practical, evidence‑informed strategies to recruit, retain, and support students with disabilities in computing programs, including accessible IT, mentoring networks, inclusive pedagogy, and partnerships between disability services and academic units.
ACM Transactions on Computing Education • Journal
The article traces universal design (UD) from its origins in architecture to its growing application in education and computing. It summarizes research and practice supporting UD approaches, illustrates strategies for UD in instruction and assessment to better include diverse learners—including students with disabilities—and outlines a research agenda for evaluating UD’s impact on learning in computing fields.
IEEE Computer • Journal
A concise call to action for academia and industry to address underrepresentation of people with disabilities in computing. The piece outlines barriers, highlights early alliance‑based efforts to engage students, and recommends steps to make computing education and workplaces more welcoming and accessible.
Journal of Special Education Technology • Journal
This paper examines how access to electronic and information technologies can improve postsecondary and career outcomes for students with disabilities. It defines key terms, reviews legal requirements, surveys promising practices across K‑12, postsecondary, and employment settings, and identifies priorities for future research to ensure equitable technology‑mediated opportunities.
The Northwest eLearning Journal • Journal
This commentary shows how the Universal Design in Higher Education (UDHE) Framework can guide the design of accessible, inclusive online courses and programs. It offers best‑practice examples and suggests stakeholder roles for adopting the framework to improve learning opportunities for all students.
The Northwest eLearning Journal • Journal
Prompted by the COVID‑19 transition to fully online instruction, this article explains common access barriers in online courses and presents practical choices in pedagogy and IT that make classes accessible, usable, and inclusive of students with diverse characteristics. It introduces UD as a proactive framework to guide course design and delivery.
Harvard Education Press • Book
This book offers a practical, step‑by‑step guide for applying universal design (UD) across campus contexts—courses and pedagogy, digital resources and IT, student services, and physical spaces. It introduces core UD principles, implementation strategies (top‑down, bottom‑up, and middle‑out), and tools for planning, evaluating, and scaling inclusive practices to minimize the need for individual accommodations. It targets faculty, staff, and leaders seeking campus‑wide accessibility and inclusion.
Web Accessibility (2nd ed.), Human–Computer Interaction Series • Chapter
This chapter surveys barriers students and staff face when institutional websites and online systems are not accessible, reviews the legal and technical landscape (e.g., WCAG), and presents strategies and case examples for improving web accessibility across colleges and universities.
Harvard Education Press • Book
An edited volume compiling principles, guidelines, and promising practices for applying universal design in all aspects of higher education. Contributors translate UD and UDL principles into institution‑level frameworks and course‑level tactics that improve access and reduce the need for accommodations.
Communications of the ACM • Journal
Drawing on a decade of AccessComputing work, the authors distill lessons for broadening participation of people with disabilities in computing. They describe barriers, effective interventions (mentoring, internships, communities of practice), and institutional strategies to improve accessibility of IT and learning environments, offering guidance for academic departments, professional societies, and employers.