Serving students with disabilities in distance education programs

Flexibility in location, scheduling, and delivery of courses and programs through distance education can provide disabled students with what may be their first real access to higher education. Distance educators must stay abreast of developments (particularly technological developments) that will improve future services; in this way, they can take a proactive stance in providing and delivering courses, instruction, and testing in accessible formats. This article states a philosophy for serving disabled learners and describes practical applications of that philosophy for distance education programs based on the experiences of the Independent Study program at the University of Wisconsin‐Extension. Issues addressed include information dissemination, planning, instruction, testing, and faculty training and support.