UDL for adults?

 In my long and circuitous journey through education, a common theme emerged - supports and assistive services were available for those under 18 with the privilege of having a support staff knowledgable in advocacy. If you didn't have such a support staff, or if you happened to be over 18, you were / are expected to be able to function effectively in a system that is not only not designed with you in mind but is often openly hostile to your very being.

I was thinking about this at various times throughout the past six months. Nevada's government imposed lockdown ruined the in-person training industry. My in-person training business worked in a space where direct, hands-on work was necessary. There is very little about what I used to do that can be effectively virtualized. Six months after the lockdown began, the industry is crushed and most of the small businesses in that space are out of business permanently. 

I tried to give it a go in the virtual world in March and April. No one was interested. The Great Reset is happening, and with it comes a complete reorganization of the Western world. The world's oligarchs have decided what's best for us, and it doesn't include vibrant and responsive small businesses. Companies like mine are gone. Companies at the top of the economic food chain gained an incredible amount of market share and shareholder value. Hopefully, if you're reading this, you're ok and safe.

As for me, I've not only lost the business but have left Nevada for good - moving back to California and transitioning to a new career ... which is actually the fulfillment of a life-long dream.

In the four months of intensive re-training to get me ready to be hired as a special education teacher, that theme resurfaced. It was as if none in the classes or events would need differentiation, or Universal Design for Learning inspired learning events. It was as if those coordinating the events never assumed that someone from the "special education population" would make it out and join them in their spaces. Yet, there I was. Here I am.

I'm not saying that each and every learning event that I've ever offered was dripping with UDL. I'm no where near perfect. But, I tried and grew as I got to know my learners. Even now, there's only so much that I can do within the LMS that I've been given to work with. Same goes for the platform that is being used for my intern work - Brightspace. Brightspace is a content management system that is trying hard to be an LMS, but lacks so much in terms of UX/UI for accommodation / differentiation.

It's my fervent wish that those who are designing learning events for adults lean heavily into UDL - and the understanding that we all learn differently. I hope for the day that LMS designers build a platform with a user-selectable UX/UI with differentiation built in. Until then, we'll plow on and hope for the best.