AI-Supported Assistive Technologies for Inclusive Digital Classrooms: Enhancing Learning for Students with Disabilities

Abstract

To inclusive education is aimed at offering the same equitable learning opportunity on both the disabled and the normal students. The current high pace of the evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) has made it possible to create assistive technologies contributing to improved access in an online learning setting. This work will analyse how the use of AI-enabled assistive technology can facilitate the creation of inclusive online classrooms and improve the learning process of students with different disabilities. The study uses the qualitative literature review methodology, which examines recent scholarly materials on the AI-powered educational applications including speech recognition systems, text-to-speech applications, automated captioning tools, adaptive learning platforms, and intelligent tutoring systems. The paper is an analysis of the support in accessing educational materials and doing digital learning activities offered by the technologies to students with visual, hearing, cognitive, and motor impairments. According to the findings, AI-supported assistive technologies have a considerable beneficial impact on access, engagement between learners, and customised learning environments. Such tools assist to minimise the obstacles of learning and make it possible to be more involved in learning independently. Nevertheless, there are a number of issues, such as the lack of technological infrastructure, inadequate teacher training, the limitations of accessibility designs, and the issues of data privacy and algorithmic bias. The analysis shows that the adoption of AI-based assistive technologies in educational systems should occur by addressing the inclusion of these tools into the framework of objective policies, institutional-level infrastructural support, as well as professional development of teachers. The intensification of incorporating such technologies can also help in enhancing more accessible digital classroom environments and help in providing equal educational opportunities to students with disabilities.