The accessibility challenge at Farm Credit Canada
Farm Credit Canada is a federal Crown corporation providing financial services to Canada’s agriculture and food industry. The organisation employs approximately 2,500 people and supports more than 100,000 Canadian farmers and food producers.
Its centralised Organisational Learning and Development team develops learning resources for employees across the organisation. The team includes learning and performance consultants, instructional designers, learning designers and learning analysts responsible for content production and learning management system administration.
Accessible learning was already a strategic priority for Farm Credit Canada. However, accessibility knowledge and experience varied across the team. Some colleagues had developed considerable expertise, while others had less experience. This created inconsistencies in practice and placed additional pressure on individuals who had become informal accessibility specialists.
The Accessible Canada Act reinforced the need for a shared baseline and a consistent approach to accessible learning design. The team wanted to distribute accessibility knowledge more widely, reduce reliance on individual experts and embed accessibility as a core quality standard across its work.
What Farm Credit Canada needed
Farm Credit Canada needed a practical and structured approach that would help the whole learning function develop greater confidence in accessible learning.
The organisation needed to:
- establish a shared baseline of accessibility knowledge
- translate accessibility requirements into practical design decisions
- distribute knowledge across the team and reduce reliance on individual specialists
- embed accessibility into content development and review processes
- support compliance with the Accessible Canada Act and WCAG
- extend accessible practice into procurement and wider organisational partnerships.
The DALC Programme and consultancy solution
Farm Credit Canada enrolled its entire learning function in the Designing Accessible Learning Content Programme.
The DALC Programme translated accessibility standards into clear and practical guidance that team members could apply directly to their work. It helped participants understand how decisions about structure, colour, imagery, multimedia, navigation and interaction could create or remove barriers.
The programme provided a common foundation for the team, helping participants move from varied levels of knowledge towards a more consistent approach to accessible learning design.
Accessible Learning Consultancy support from eLaHub gave the team an additional source of guidance. Where participants encountered complex implementation questions, they could seek advice and explore appropriate solutions in the context of their work.
Turning accessibility learning into practical change
Farm Credit Canada took a whole-team approach to the programme. Participants included learning and performance consultants, instructional designers, learning designers and learning analysts responsible for content production and learning management system administration.
Including colleagues who were not directly responsible for designing learning content ensured that accessibility was understood across the complete learning workflow.
Participants completed each module individually over a two-to-three-week period. The team then met to discuss what they had learned and record shared insights in OneNote.
These structured discussions helped participants apply the programme to current projects, examine accessibility challenges together and learn from one another’s experience. They also created a shared language for accessibility and encouraged collective ownership of decisions.
The team began applying its knowledge from the start of the programme. Participants reviewed their own learning resources, identified barriers in content produced by other departments and considered how accessibility could be incorporated into existing processes.
Key outcomes and impact
The DALC Programme helped Farm Credit Canada develop a more confident, consistent and collaborative approach to accessible learning.
Team members became better able to recognise inaccessible practices and identify barriers that had previously gone unnoticed. Accessibility knowledge was distributed more evenly across the function, reducing pressure on individual colleagues and making it a shared area of responsibility.
The team also applied its knowledge beyond learning content. WCAG requirements and the Accessible Canada Act were incorporated into technology procurement and vendor assessment processes. New tools and systems could therefore be considered for accessibility before they were adopted.
With greater confidence, members of the learning function began supporting colleagues in branding, information technology and other areas of the organisation. This enabled them to raise accessibility questions earlier, share practical guidance and contribute to more inclusive decisions.
All new Farm Credit Canada learning content is now developed with accessibility standards in mind. Existing resources are being reviewed and improved through the organisation’s regular content lifecycle.
The learning function has also published an FCC Learning Accessibility Statement on its internal intranet. The statement explains what employees can expect from the team and encourages them to provide feedback about the accessibility of their learning experiences.
Team members described completing the DALC Programme as one of their proudest achievements of the year, reflecting the confidence, consistency and shared purpose it created.
Accessible learning as a catalyst for wider change
Farm Credit Canada’s experience demonstrates how accessible learning can support broader digital accessibility transformation.
By creating a common foundation across the learning function, the organisation reduced reliance on individual expertise and enabled accessibility to become part of everyday decision-making.
The programme also gave the team the confidence to influence procurement, technology and content produced by organisational partners. Accessible learning became a practical route through which the team could contribute to Farm Credit Canada’s wider aim of building an inclusive, accountable and future-ready workplace.
Key results
The main outcomes achieved through the DALC Programme and consultancy support included:
- a shared foundation in accessibility across the learning function
- greater confidence in designing and reviewing accessible learning
- reduced reliance on individual accessibility specialists
- more consistent accessibility decisions across roles and workflows
- accessibility requirements embedded into procurement and vendor assessment
- improved identification of barriers in learning and digital content
- all new learning content developed with accessibility standards in mind
- an internal Learning Accessibility Statement that sets clear expectations
- greater collaboration with branding, technology and other organisational partners
- increased capability to act as accessibility champions across the organisation.
