Nicole O’Connell - College of Humanities and Fine Arts
For Nicole O’Connell, Instructor in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, accessibility is a community value and norm that all faculty and students engage with. While there are technical aspects of designing an accessible course in both the digital and physical spaces, “accessibility” is baked into Nicole’s pedagogical framework.
Nicole teaches multiple courses in the Writing Program and College of Humanities and Fine Arts, including College Writing, Writing, Identity, and Power, and Designing for Humans. When Nicole designs a course, she designs with accessibility in mind, including, but not limited to teaching students how to design proper heading structure, transcripts, and captions. She teaches her students technical accessibility skills by incorporating them into assignment requirements and emphasizing how technologies support universal design. More importantly, though, Nicole engages her students in critical discussions about the values of inclusivity—which includes accessibility at the forefronts of communication and design.
“We teach with accessibility because we believe in the values of access to education for all. These strategies may be “behind the scenes” for students. I bring them to the forefront so that students apply those values to their work.” -Nicole O’Connell
Accessibility as a Pedagogical Framework
Nicole’s pedagogy is grounded in the principles of Critical Disability Studies (CDS) which challenges traditional views of disability as a medical deficit. Instead, it frames disability as a socially constructed identity. CDS emphasizes how societal norms, policies, and environments create barriers that exclude or marginalize certain bodies and minds. Nicole brings this framework into the classroom, introducing students to its theoretical foundations and guiding them in applying accessible and inclusive design strategies that dismantle those barriers. Her goal is to ensure that all stakeholders can engage meaningfully with information and resources.
Nicole’s writing instruction echoes the importance of clear, inclusive, and user-centered communication (Brunskill, 2020). She helps students identify how language, structure, and clarity can either facilitate or hinder access. By teaching students to write and design with empathy and precision, Nicole equips them with essential skills for inclusive communication.
Nicole’s courses reflect her commitment to accessibility. She teaches students to incorporate features into their assignment submissions. Students learn closed captioning, alt text, audio narration, colorblind-friendly palettes, and descriptive link text- all technical components that reduce access barriers and foster inclusive practices. As Lepore et al. (2025) note, when students are taught to design with accessibility in mind, “they not only produce more inclusive work but also develop a stronger sense of community and social responsibility.” Nicole’s students learn to think critically about equity in design, creating materials and environments that reflect the diversity of their audiences.
Ultimately, Nicole’s pedagogy moves beyond accommodation to embrace built-in accessibility from the start (Marom et al., 2025). By embedding accessibility into both writing and design instruction, Nicole fosters a culture of inclusion and prepares students to be thoughtful, equity-minded writers, communicators and designers. Her work demonstrates that faculty can lead transformative change in higher education by centering accessibility as a core value.
Examples from Nicole's Classroom
Select a section title below to find out more about Nicole's teaching strategies.
Faculty Support for Accessibility Practices
Nicole paints a portrait of an instructor who embraces accessibility by teaching her students the values and technical aspects of accessible design. Her students will enter the workforce with those skills and carry forward a universal approach to access.
Interested in learning more about accessible design? The IDEAS Accessibility Hub is a great resource for faculty and students!