From Compliance to Compassion: Rethinking Accessibility in Online Learning
As instructional designers, we talk a lot about meeting accessibility standards, ensuring our content passes contrast checks, includes alternative text, and is screen-reader friendly. These are essential practices, and compliance matters. But if we stop there, we risk missing a deeper opportunity: designing for people, not just for policies.
Accessibility isn’t only about boxes checked. It’s about barriers removed, invitations extended, and learners seen.
What Compliance Gets Right, and What It Misses
Laws and guidelines such as WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) establish necessary guardrails. They help ensure that online learning environments don’t actively exclude learners with disabilities. But as anyone who has ever struggled through a “compliant” but frustrating course knows, minimum standards do not guarantee meaningful access.
Compliance tells us what to do. Compassion tells us why.
When we shift from a mindset of legal obligation to one of human advocacy, accessibility becomes more than a task. It becomes a design value.
Compassionate Accessibility: A Broader Perspective
True accessibility means creating a course that respects, welcomes, and adapts to human differences. It means acknowledging that barriers don’t only affect those with permanent disabilities. Temporary impairments (a broken arm), situational limitations (a noisy environment), or cognitive overload (juggling work, family, and school) can affect any learner.
Designing with compassion means considering these realities upfront, not as edge cases, but as part of the design from the start. It’s about building flexibility, simplicity, and clarity into everything we create.
Compassionate design asks:
Who might I be leaving out, and how can I bring them in?
Practical Ways to Build Compassion Into Your Design
Here are five learner-centered practices that go beyond the checklist:
- Use Clear, Inclusive Language
Avoid jargon and long, complex sentences. Write instructions like you’re speaking to a new learner, because often, you are. - Always Caption Videos
Not just for the hearing-impaired. Captions help learners in noisy (or quiet) environments, ESL learners, and those who prefer reading to listening. - Structure With Headings and Alt Text
Break content into logical sections using heading styles. Write meaningful alt text for all visuals, explain why the image matters, not just what it is. - Simplify Layouts and Navigation
Keep the interface intuitive. Limit cognitive load with consistent formatting, clear links, and minimal distractions. - Test With Real Tools
Run your course with a screen reader. View it in grayscale. Try navigating without a mouse. These exercises can reveal unexpected barriers.
How Brightspace Supports Accessible Design
Brightspace includes tools and features that make accessibility more achievable:
Accessibility Checker: Built into the HTML editor, this tool flags potential issues as you design.
Accessible Templates: Brightspace course templates follow accessibility best practices and ensure proper heading structure.
Captioning Support: Seamless integration with captioning tools makes it easy to add transcripts or closed captions to multimedia.
Responsive Design: Brightspace layouts adapt to different screen sizes and devices, supporting learners on the go.
Instructional designers can also leverage features like release conditions and intelligent agents to offer personalized pathways, helping learners feel supported, not lost.
From Obligation to Advocacy
Designing for accessibility is not about perfection, it’s about intention. Every course we build is an opportunity to show learners that they belong, that we thought of them, that they matter.
When we design with compassion, we move beyond the minimum. We create inclusive learning experiences that celebrate diversity and remove the invisible barriers that too often stand between learners and success.
So the next time you're building a course, ask yourself:
Am I just meeting requirements, or am I meeting people where they are?
For more information about how Learning Services can support you on your learning journey, connect with your D2L Customer Success Manager or Client Sales Executive, or reach out to the D2L Sales Team.