Mainstream Classroom

An educational setting where students with disabilities learn alongside their non-disabled peers, typically with support services such as interpreters, captioning, or note-takers. For deaf and hard-of-hearing students, mainstream classrooms present unique accessibility challenges including managing multiple visual information sources simultaneously. The U.S. Education for All Handicapped Children Act (1975) and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (1990) significantly increased mainstream education for students with disabilities.