Education is recognised as a fundamental human right (United Nations, 2006), and Ireland’s commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (United Nations, 2018) requires inclusive higher education. However, structural, digital and environmental barriers continue to shape participation. While Ireland’s National Access Strategy promotes inclusion for students with intellectual disabilities (ID), barriers to meaningful engagement remain (Buckley & Quinlivan, 2023). Students increasingly seek inclusion within academic and vocational pathways (Grigal et al., 2021; Hennessy et al., 2024).

The expansion of third-level programmes for students with intellectual disabilities is recent, raising key questions for educational technology (EdTech). Beyond access, design must support participation, autonomy and progression. Project WAVE (Working Towards Academic and Vocational Equity), a HEA-funded PATH 4 Phase 2 initiative, addresses this through inclusive programme design where, first-year learning is cohort-based to build academic and digital competencies, with progression to co-learning and mainstream participation in second year.

This research focuses on the ICT module within this structure. It examines students with intellectual disabilities alongside the lecturer, postgraduate teaching assistant and instructional designer. A qualitative, practice-based design was adopted, grounded in reflective pedagogy and iterative development. Ethical approval was obtained, and accessible materials, including Easy Read information and consent forms, supported participation.

The module was delivered through Moodle using structured layouts, scaffolded e-tivities (Salmon, 2013) and guided discussions. UDL informed the design (AlRawi & AlKahtani, 2022), alongside graphic facilitation strategies (Cavaliero et al., 2024; Cavaliero & Gilligan, 2025). Domain-general strategies supported engagement (Dinsmore, 2017), reinforced through peer interaction, routine and exposure to mainstream practices (Grigal et al., 2021).

Findings highlight predictability, visual clarity, relational support and modelling of digital behaviours as central to participation, alongside communication, spatial navigation and belonging.

Inclusive EdTech is therefore not about technological novelty, but about designing systems that support belonging, participation and autonomy for an emerging and underserved student population in higher education.

References

AlRawi, J. M., & AlKahtani, M. A. (2022). Universal design for learning for educating students with intellectual disabilities: a systematic review. International Journal of Developmental Disabilities, 68(6), 800–808. https://doi.org/10.1080/20473869.2021.1900505

Buckley, L. A., & Quinlivan, S. (2023). Inclusive learning in Ireland: A case study. International Journal of Discrimination and the Law, 23(1-2), 103-125. https://doi.org/10.1177/13582291231169397

Cavaliero, T., Gilligan, J., & McCabe, E. (2024). A rollercoaster of drawing and using digital tools!: Graphicking and grappling in a community of practice. Irish Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning, 8(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.22554/npk13x26

Cavaliero, T., & Gilligan, J. (2025). How graphic facilitation methods support your practice. AHEAD Journal. Retrieved March 2, 2026, from https://www.ahead.ie/journal/How-Graphic-Facilitation-Methods-support-your-practice

Dinsmore, D. L. (2017). Strategic processing in education. In D. L. Dinsmore (Ed.), Strategic processing in education (pp. 3–20). Routledge.

Grigal, M., L. L. Dukes, & Z. Walker. (2021). Advancing access to higher education for students with intellectual disability in the United States. Disabilities 1, 438–449. https://doi.org/10.3390/ disabilities1040030.

Hennessy, T., J. McMahon, and O. Doody. (2024). How People with an intellectual disability experience inclusive third‐level education: A scoping review. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 53, 158–191. https://doi.org/10.1111/bld.12626.

Salmon, G., (2013). E-tivities: The key to active online learning. New York: Routledge.

United Nations. (2006). Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. United Nations.

United Nations. (2018). Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Ireland ratification documents. United Nations.