Designing for the Outliers
When we design learning, we tend to design intentionally for the “average” learner — the middle of the bell curve. But what if the center isn’t where most learners land? In fact, what if most learners fall on the edges of the bell curve? What type of design innovation thrives for learners at the edges?
Neurodiverse learners — including those with ADHD, dyslexia, autism, auditory or sensory processing differences, or simply unconventional cognitive styles — have always been told to fit into the system. To sit longer. Focus harder. Click faster. Read denser text. Push through bright screens, tiny fonts, endless rows of buttons, and walls of jargon.
But what if, instead of insisting that learners conform to the way we present information, we designed our content to meet them where they are?
The U.S. Department of Education (2022) reports that only 12–13% of college students disclose a disability, even though many more likely qualify. That means a significant portion of learners move through our courses unseen and unsupported. As instructional designers, we often don’t know who in our audience is neurodivergent — which is exactly why every course should be built as if they are.
Rather than designing for the known few, we should design for the invisible many. When we do, accessibility stops being an accommodation — and becomes the standard for equity.
Accessibility Is Not a Constraint — It’s a Creative Advantage
Research continues to validate what many educators and instructional designers already know intuitively: accessibility improves learning for all learners. Techniques designed for dyslexic readers — such as increased line spacing, clean sans-serif fonts, or structured text hierarchies — have been shown to increase reading speed and comprehension for all learners (Rello & Baeza-Yates, 2016). Likewise, principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and cognitive load theory remind us that too much movement, sound, or clutter doesn’t just distract neurodivergent learners — it exhausts everyone.
When we provide flexible navigation instead of forced sequencing, learners who process quickly can move with momentum, and those who need more time can breathe. When we offer multiple modality options — text, audio, visual, interactive — we’re not “over-accommodating.” We’re simply respecting how human brains differ.
The Goal Is Not Compliance — It’s Belonging
Too often, accessibility is treated like a legal checkbox. Add alt text. Caption the video. Increase contrast. Done.
But neurodiverse learners don’t just need compliant content — they need to feel considered. They need to sense, from the very first interaction, that the course was built with someone like them in mind.
That means:
Interfaces that are calm, not chaotic
Instructions that are plain, not cryptic
Progress that is self-paced, not rushed
Challenges that are scaffolded, not stacked
These aren’t features. These are invitations. They say, You belong here. This space was designed for your brain — not against it.
The Future of Learning Is Flexible by Default
Whether you’re writing a K–12 lesson plan or building a corporate simulation in Storyline, designing for neurodiversity isn’t about creating special pathways.
It’s about building universal ones.
Because when learning is truly designed for the brain that struggles most — the one that’s overwhelmed by noise, ambiguity, pressure, or friction — every other brain benefits from the clarity.
Accessibility is not the floor. It’s the ceiling.
And if we want to create learning experiences that don’t just inform, but transform — that’s where we must build from.
Sources:
National Center for Education Statistics. (2022, April 26). Students with disabilities at degree-granting postsecondary institutions (NCES 2022-018). U.S. Department of Education. https://nces.ed.gov/whatsnew/press_releases/4_26_2022.asp
Rello, L., & Baeza-Yates, R. (2016). The effect of text spacing on the reading performance of dyslexic people. Proceedings of the 13th International Web for All Conference (W4A ’16). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/2899475.2899488
Thank you for joining me today! Let’s keep learning altogether, as lifelong #LearningMatters.
Best,
Laura Lawson
LearningMatters, LLC
Instructional Designer
