The COVID-19 pandemic exposed significant challenges and opportunities for inclusive education. As observed, the shift to online classes has widened the digital divide, especially for students with disabilities and other vulnerable students (Liu, 2021). Some learning environments on which students relied were inaccessible, meaning those with special needs could not get the required accommodations. This course expanded my perspective on concepts of digital accessibility and made me learn how to ensure that the education environment was inclusive of learners with disabilities. In the future, I will also support the use of technological advancements to level the field for all students’ learning.

My prior understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on education was centered on disruption and adjustment to virtual classrooms. I had not, however, considered at length how such changes adversely affected students with disabilities and other marginalized groups (Hall et al., 2021). What this course made me realize was that though the pandemic was a crisis, it also acted as a catalyst for inclusive education reforms that were needed (Kim, 2020).

Perhaps most startling realization that emerged from this course was how the digital divide stretched educational inequality. While others had adapted somewhat to online schooling, others, particularly students with disabilities, were faced with all sorts of complications, including access to assistive technologies, social interaction reduction, and disruption in specialty support services (Van Lancker & Parolin, 2020).

I considered how this issue progressed in my own academic and professional life. I observed students with learning disability, hearing impairment, and mobility impairment suffering in inadequately accommodated remote learning. Online platforms were not completely accessible, and the one-size-fits-all approach of remote instruction was not accommodating diverse learners (Burgstahler, 2020).

Besides, the course helped me understand the emotional and psychological difficulties of extended isolation, decreased peer interaction, and increased academic pressure. Studies had reported that students with disabilities were more anxious, disconnected, and experienced learning loss when schools were closed (Andrew et al., 2020). These observations emphasized the necessity of inclusive education in providing a priority to both academic and emotional support systems.

The course also emphasized how the pandemic made possible an equitable deployment of digital practices with numerous lasting schooling advantages. Most keen to explore further post-pandemic pedagogic models, however, was how Universal Design for Learning (UDL) works as such. The UDL model emphasized on representation, engagement, and expression received more attention by educators in investigating how online courses could be made responsive and accessible to students (Meyer et al., 2014).

The most noticeable shift noticed during the pandemic was the mainstreaming of assistive technologies— namely:

• Automated transcripts and captions for hearing-impaired
• Screen readers and voice-to-text software for visually impaired
• Asynchronous learning opportunities, where students learn at their own

These were set against the context of the underpinning values of inclusion, where again it was emphasized that accessibility is not a second thought but has to be part of the educational design (Burgstahler, 2020).

This course has enhanced my understanding of the complex relationship between COVID-19 and inclusive education, showing that while the pandemic uncovered deep inequities, it also accelerated long- overdue innovations in accessibility and flexible learning.