There has been a worldwide trend recently for universities to reduce their traditional focus on separate disciplines and to encourage interdisciplinary research and teaching. This interdisciplinary collaboration tends to be highlighted in the physical and medical sciences (eg bioinformatics, molecular bioscience), but students with special needs often require medical and therapy support, so special education has a history of collaboration with professionals in other disciplines. However, this collaboration has taken place most often in professional practice rather than in pre-service course work or in research programs. This paper describes current research projects that are being undertaken with links between special education and another discipline, communication and information technology. The projects are concerned with the development of learning experiences for young, vision impaired children. They recognise the value of interdisciplinary approaches in tackling complex problems and the value to students of crossing disciplinary boundaries and participating in team research.