Accessibility in higher education is often treated as a matter of accommodation, compliance, or technology. Yet despite decades of progress, many of the same barriers continue to appear—term after term, platform after platform.

Designing Access offers a different perspective.

Rather than focusing only on tools or policies, this book explores accessibility as a discipline of design, ethics, and institutional decision-making. Drawing on more than sixteen years of professional practice supporting students with disabilities, Ronald G. Leblanc examines how access is shaped long before a student requests support—through the design of systems, platforms, communication, and institutional processes.

Across topics including assistive technology decision-making, cognitive access, communication design, neurodiversity, and institutional systems, Designing Access reframes accessibility as a practice of professional judgment rather than a checklist of solutions.

Instead of asking how to respond to barriers, this book asks a deeper question:

Why do these barriers exist in the first place?
This book is written for:

• Assistive technologists
• Accessibility and disability services professionals
• Instructional designers
• Faculty and academic administrators
• Higher education leaders working to build inclusive learning environments

In this book you will explore:

• Why accessibility challenges often persist despite good intentions
• How design decisions shape participation in higher education
• The role of assistive technology within broader systems of access
• Ethical considerations in accessibility work
• Practical frameworks for building sustainable accessibility practices

Accessibility is not something added after barriers appear.

It is something designed from the beginning.