Designing Online Courses for Learners with Disabilities

More than 1 in 5 adults in New Zealand live with a disability. That’s not a small group. It’s millions of people who want to learn, grow, and advance their lives through online courses-but too often, the courses they find aren’t built for them. If you’re designing online learning, ignoring accessibility isn’t just unfair-it’s leaving out a huge part of your audience. And it’s not as hard as you think to fix.

Start with the basics: what accessibility really means

Accessibility isn’t about adding a few extra buttons or turning on captions after the fact. It’s about building from the ground up so anyone can use your course, no matter how they see, hear, move, or process information. That means text that screen readers can read out loud, videos with accurate captions and transcripts, buttons you can navigate with a keyboard, and color schemes that don’t blind people with low vision.

Think about it: if your course uses a light gray text on a white background, someone with low vision won’t be able to read it. If your quiz requires clicking tiny checkboxes with a mouse, someone with limited hand mobility can’t complete it. If your lecture video has no captions, a deaf learner is left out. These aren’t edge cases-they’re common barriers.

Build content that works for everyone

Start with your text. Use clear, simple language. Avoid jargon. Break long paragraphs into short ones. Use headings to organize ideas-not just for looks, but so screen readers can jump between sections. A learner using a screen reader should be able to hear your course structure: Introduction → Module 1 → Key Points → Practice Activity.

For images, always add alt text. Not just "image of a person learning," but "woman with hearing aids watching a video with captions on a tablet." Specificity helps. If an image is decorative-like a background pattern-mark it as such. Screen readers should skip it.

PDFs are a trap. They’re often scanned images with no text layer. If you must use them, run them through an accessibility checker first. Better yet, use HTML pages. They’re easier to make accessible, load faster, and work on any device.

Make videos and audio truly accessible

Captions aren’t optional. They’re required. But not all captions are equal. Auto-generated captions from YouTube or Zoom? They’re often wrong-names, technical terms, even basic words get mixed up. A misspelled word like "cancer" instead of "canter" in a medical course? That’s dangerous.

Use professional captioning services or take the time to write and sync your own. Include speaker identification: "Instructor: This formula calculates..." and describe important non-speech sounds: "[door slams]", "[keyboard typing rapidly]". This helps people who are deaf or hard of hearing understand context.

For audio-only content-like podcasts or lectures-always provide a full transcript. Not a summary. A full word-for-word version. That way, someone who’s deaf, or who prefers reading, or who’s in a noisy environment, can follow along exactly.

Design for movement and motor challenges

Not everyone can use a mouse. Some learners rely on keyboards, voice commands, or switch devices. That means your course must work without a mouse.

Test your course by unplugging your mouse and using only the Tab key. Can you get to every button, link, and form field? Can you activate them with Enter or Space? If you get stuck, your course isn’t accessible.

Buttons should be big enough to tap on a phone. At least 44 by 44 pixels. Don’t put links right next to each other if they’re small-that’s a nightmare for someone with tremors. Leave space. Use clear labels: "Submit Assignment" instead of "Click here."

Don’t rely on color alone to convey meaning. If you say, "Incorrect answers are in red," someone who’s colorblind won’t know which ones are wrong. Add icons or text labels too: "Incorrect: Need to review".

Support cognitive diversity

Some learners have dyslexia, ADHD, autism, or memory challenges. They need structure, clarity, and control.

Give learners options. Let them slow down video playback. Let them turn off animations. Let them choose between text, audio, or video versions of the same content. Offer downloadable worksheets so they can study offline.

Break lessons into small chunks. Ten-minute videos are better than hour-long lectures. Use consistent layouts across modules. If the navigation changes every week, it’s confusing. Stick to one pattern.

Avoid flashing content. Even a 3-times-per-second flash can trigger seizures. If you need motion, make it subtle. And always let users turn animations off.

Test with real users

You can read all the guidelines in the world, but nothing beats testing with people who actually live with disabilities. Don’t just ask a friend with glasses if the font is big enough. Find learners with physical, sensory, or cognitive disabilities and invite them to use your course.

Set up a simple feedback loop: "What was hard? What got in your way? What helped?" You’ll hear things you never expected. Maybe the audio description is too fast. Maybe the quiz buttons are too close. Maybe the course feels overwhelming because there’s no way to pause and reflect.

Don’t wait until launch to test. Start early. Build a small prototype. Test it. Fix it. Test again. Accessibility isn’t a checklist you complete once-it’s a habit.

Use tools that help, not hurt

There are free tools that make this easier. WAVE (Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool) scans your website and highlights problems. Axe is another one, built into browser dev tools. Both are free and work in Chrome and Firefox.

For captions, try Otter.ai or Rev.com for accurate transcription. For alt text, use AI tools like Microsoft’s Seeing AI to suggest descriptions, then edit them yourself for accuracy.

And don’t forget: your Learning Management System (LMS) matters. Not all platforms are created equal. Canvas, Moodle, and Blackboard have accessibility features-but you have to turn them on and use them right. Check your LMS’s accessibility statement. If it doesn’t have one, it’s not ready for inclusive design.

Legal and ethical reasons to act now

In New Zealand, the Human Rights Act and the Disability Act require reasonable accommodations in education. That includes online courses. Ignoring accessibility could put your institution at legal risk.

But beyond the law, it’s the right thing to do. Learning is a human right. When you design for accessibility, you’re not just following rules-you’re opening doors. Someone with a disability might finally finish a course that helps them get a job. Or start a business. Or just feel less alone.

There’s no such thing as "too late" to fix accessibility. Start with one module. Fix the captions. Add alt text. Make buttons bigger. Then move to the next. Progress, not perfection, is the goal.

What happens when you get it right

When you design for accessibility, you don’t just help people with disabilities. You help everyone.

Someone studying on their phone in a bright park? Better contrast helps them. Someone watching a video in a quiet library? Captions let them learn without sound. Someone with a broken arm? Keyboard navigation saves them. A parent juggling kids and a course? Clear structure makes it possible.

Accessible design isn’t a side project. It’s better design. And the data backs it up: courses with accessibility features have higher completion rates, better engagement, and fewer support requests.

There’s no excuse anymore. The tools are free. The standards are clear. The people are waiting.