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Seven phases of training
Covers the full document accessibility lifecycle, from creating accessible documents at source through running an in-house pipeline. Each phase builds on the last.
Training and certifications
Training your team to make accessible documents.
A structured seven-phase programme for university staff. Delivered in-person at your campus. Training itself is free; only travel and on-site logistics for trainers are at cost-recovery, waivable on need. Most institutions reach in-house independence within 12 to 18 months.
01 What to expect
Three things to know up front.
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Training is free
No training fee. Only travel and on-site logistics for trainers are charged at cost-recovery, waivable on need. No subscription, no per-seat licence, no bundled retainer.
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Delivered at your campus
In person, by trained practitioners. Sessions are tailored to your document types, languages, and staff capacity. Online delivery available where in-person is not practical.
02 The seven-phase programme
Seven phases to institutional independence.
Each phase builds on the last. Your staff progress from understanding accessibility to running a fully independent document pipeline. Participants do not need to take all seven; the recommended pathway depends on the role.
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01
Understand what makes a document accessible or not
How screen readers, magnification tools, and text-to-speech work with documents. The principles of Easy Read remediation and why structured summaries matter for neurodivergent students. Why this matters for the students at your institution.
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Create accessible documents at source, before export
Heading structures, reading order, alt text, and list formatting in Word, PowerPoint, posters, and teaching materials. Addressing accessibility at the point of creation reduces the remediation burden significantly.
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Fix existing inaccessible PDFs with hands-on remediation tools
Tags panel, reading order, table editor, and the accessibility checker. Participants work on real documents from their own institutions throughout, not on contrived examples.
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Handle STEM content: equations, tables, and complex layouts
The full STEM remediation process: equation extraction, MathML generation, writing plain-language equation descriptions, and handling complex table structures with multi-level headers.
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Build accessible digital publications in EPUB format
EPUB structure, navigation, accessibility metadata, and testing with assistive technology. Essential for institutions moving toward digital-first publishing.
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Produce Easy Read versions for students with learning disabilities
Plain language principles, visual supports, layout rules, and international Easy Read guidelines.
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07
Set up and run an accessible document operation inside your university
Design and run a systematic document accessibility operation. Covers automated processing configuration, template creation, quality assurance workflows, and how to sustain the pipeline independently after the partnership ends.
03 Pathways by role
Which phases are right for your team?
Participants do not need to complete all seven phases. The recommended pathway depends on their role at the institution. Four common pathways below; tailored plans are available on request.
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Document creators
Faculty, communications staff, and anyone who creates course materials. These phases address the most common source of inaccessible documents: content that was never made accessible before export.
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Remediation practitioners
Disability services, library staff, and document coordinators who handle existing inaccessible documents. Phase 1 provides the conceptual foundation; phases 3 and 7 build hands-on and systems skills.
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STEM-heavy institutions
Any institution with significant mathematics, sciences, engineering, or economics content. Phase 4 is essential and is best taken after Phase 3.
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Digital publishing teams
Library and publication teams moving toward digital-first delivery. Covers both remediation of existing content and creation of natively accessible EPUB publications.
04 Online course
A self-paced online course is in preparation.
A self-paced online learning programme on document accessibility, open to individual learners anywhere. Modules will cover accessibility fundamentals, practical document remediation across PDF, Word, PowerPoint, and EPUB, Easy Read basics, and quality checking. Includes practice tasks and a certificate on completion.
Cost: Free for students and individual learners. Institutional licences at cost.
Enrolment and full syllabus will be announced here when ready.
05 Joint certification programmes
Building the next generation of accessibility specialists.
EquitableDocs is open to collaborating with universities to develop formal certification courses in document accessibility: structured academic programmes that go beyond in-house training and lead to recognised qualifications for participants.
Two pathways are of particular interest: programmes that develop document accessibility specialists who can serve their institutions and communities independently, and trainer-of-trainers programmes that equip practitioners to train others, building a multiplier effect across the region.
If your institution is interested in exploring this, we welcome a conversation.
06 Bring training to your campus