IN-PERSON MADRID FOCUS ON PEDAGOGY. SECTION A

Abstract

This paper argues that academic ableism is structurally embedded within higher education and must be addressed through a fundamental rethinking of how universities design space, policy, and pedagogy. It advances four central claims. First, university spaces—physical, ideological, and economic—are not neutral but actively construct disability by privileging certain bodies and minds while rendering others marginal, hypervisible, or excluded. Architectural features, campus layouts, and even syllabus design operate as “steep steps,” naturalizing able-bodied norms and positioning disability as an afterthought. Second, campus disability services are shaped by a neoliberal framework that individualizes responsibility for access. Students must self-identify, secure costly medical documentation, and navigate bureaucratic systems that often delay or deny accommodations. This process produces stigma, inequity, and “access fatigue,” particularly for students with invisible disabilities and those marginalized by race, class, gender identity, or lack of healthcare access. Third, the paper calls for a reconceptualization of accommodations. Rather than viewing them as exceptional add-ons for disabled students, it reframes all learning environments as already structured by accommodations that privilege nondisabled bodies. This shift exposes the myth of neutrality and challenges assumptions about fairness and academic rigor. Finally, the paper proposes Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a transformative framework. By embedding accessibility into course design through multiple means of representation, expression, and engagement, UDL moves beyond compliance toward inclusive, flexible, and equitable education. Ultimately, the paper contends that undoing academic ableism requires redesigning institutions to value human variation as central to knowledge production.