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Building accessible documents at scale

Setting the Scene

Guide Dogs is one of the UK’s leading sight loss charities, guided by a clear vision of a future where every person with sight loss has the confidence and support to live their lives to the full. Their expert staff, volunteers and life-changing guide dogs work together to help people with sight loss gain independence and make choices that matter to them.

They have an ambitious 15-year plan focusing on strengthening their core services, expanding access to opportunities, providing more personalised support, embracing new technologies, and shaping wider expectations of what is possible for people living with a vision impairment.

At a glance

We helped Guide Dogs turn their in-person accessibility training into high quality eLearning that can be delivered at scale. Staff and volunteers can now build the skills they need to create accessible documents independently, helping the organisation share information more consistently and without barriers.

Results:

Training accessible across the organisation: People across the organisation can now engage with the training wherever they are, opening up access far beyond what was possible through in-person sessions.
Stronger capability: With clear, consistent guidance to follow, more staff and volunteers are now creating accessible documents with confidence, accuracy and independence.
Sustainable training model: Guide Dogs now have a scalable model for developing accessibility skills, supporting ongoing improvement across the organisation.

The Challenge

As part of their long-term plan, Guide Dogs recognised that all their documents needed to be fully accessible and were committed to ensuring that every document could be used independently, confidently, and without barriers.

Their subject matter experts already had the skills to create accessible documents and were guiding staff through the process during in-person sessions. However, they needed a way to deliver this guidance at scale, sharing it more widely to ensure all staff and volunteers had the skills to independently create accessible documents.

The Solution

After learning about our strong reputation for producing high quality, accessible eLearning, Guide Dogs approached us for support. We worked closely with their subject matter experts to understand their approach and clarify key concepts, before applying robust instructional design principles to translate their in-depth expertise into an online format suitable for all audiences.

Together, we created a digital resource that shows exactly how to build accessible Word documents and PDF files, reflecting the same high standards previously taught in their smaller, face-to-face sessions. Moving this training into an online format now allows Guide Dogs to deliver it consistently and at scale, ensuring everyone can learn from the same clear, expert guidance.

The Benefits

Working with eCom delivered clear, meaningful benefits for Guide Dogs, helping them advance their long-term commitment to accessibility.

Training available to everyone - Their accessibility expertise is now brought to life in a digital format, giving every staff member and volunteer instant access to clear, expert guidance whenever they need it.
More confident content creators - Staff are now able to learn independently and revisit the training at their own pace, building confidence and producing accessible documents with greater clarity and consistency.
A scalable, sustainable, cost-effective model - Digital delivery means Guide Dogs can support a much wider audience without adding pressure to their teams, creating a sustainable and cost-effective way to grow accessibility skills across the organisation.
Better alignment with organisational goals - The training strengthens how information is shared across the charity, directly supporting Guide Dogs’ long-term vision to improve access and deliver high-quality services for people with sight loss.

What our clients have to say

eCom understood what we were trying to achieve. They helped us turn our expertise into eLearning that reaches more people and supports our goal of making information accessible for all.

Guide Dogs