Although technology is at the heart of both UDL and assistive technology, it is important to clarify the differences. Assistive technology is designed to help individual students access the mainstream curriculum. Under most circumstances, assistive technology is necessary because the mainstream curriculum is inflexible and inaccessible to those students without it. For example, a video enlarger can make a textbook more accessible to a student who has low vision. But the enlarger is not a part of the curriculum, it is a device used by an individual student to overcome a barrier inherent in the curriculum's original design.
Assistive technologies can allow the learner to adapt to the curriculum.
This way, there is access and the challenge is one that stimulates learning rather than hindering it. The built-in flexibility eliminates the need for the assistive tool, and simultaneously improves learning opportunities for all students. The full implementation of UDL may reduce but not eliminate the need for assistive technologies. As Universal Design for Learning becomes viable and pervasive, the power of assistive technology can be devoted to providing more efficient interaction with a curriculum that is already access-aware. For the students who need it, assistive technology will no longer be required to overcome barriers in a poorly designed curriculum, but it will enhance active interaction with a curriculum that has been designed at the outset to be accessible to all.