UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING: BIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF COGNITIVE DIVERSITY

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is increasingly described as a neuro-scientifically grounded framework for inclusive education, yet much of this grounding relies on sources produced by UDL proponents, creating a circularity that limits independent credibility. In this paper researcher addresses that gap. We first establish the neuro-scientific evidence for meaningful individual variability across recognition, strategic, and affective neural systems using research entirely independent of UDL, drawing on Finn et al.\'s (2015) connectome fingerprinting studies, Miyake et al.\'s (2000) landmark analysis of executive function separability, and Pessoa\'s (2008) synthesis of emotion-cognition integration. We then connect how UDL three principles: multiple means of representation, action and expression, and engagement, directly reflect and operationalise those findings. The paper argues that UDL is not preference-based accommodation but a principled pedagogical response to the documented architecture of human cognitive variability. Limitations of the current effectiveness evidence base and directions for future research are discussed.