This paper discusses issues that are central to accessible online education. A recent research project investigated the accessibility of online courses for students with disabilities by evaluating existing courses, developed by academics at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). The evaluation revealed evidence that some aspects of the courses were inaccessible, but that with careful design guidance and awareness of the needs of students with disabilities, those courses could be made more accessible. As a result a set of Guidelines for Accessible Online Courses was produced (Pearson & Koppi 2001) specifically to aid academic developers of online courses with limited technical ability. However, these guidelines assume that the academic developer understands and accepts the issues related to inclusive design and development. Therefore the authors used their experience and the knowledge gained through researching the guidelines to identify the specific issues that one needs to consider, and the required skills to understand inclusion and accessible design. The issues were encapsulated into five major themes: legal or quality assurance requirements;awareness of and the ability to use the available guidelines and protocols; some understanding of the assistive technologies used by students with disabilities; awareness of designing for inclusion; and understand and apply the checking tools and mechanisms that are available. These themes were incorporated into a series of face-to-face workshops and an online course offered in flexible mode, aimed at assisting the academic in understanding both the broader issues of accessibility, and in developing the skills and knowledge for accessible course design. (Contains 11 references.) (Author)