Accessibility by design at Orygen

Orygen builds accessibility into its content and assessment from the start, with Auslan interpreting in every class

Background

Orygen delivers the Certificate IV in Mental Health Peer Work. Orygen’s trainers bring their own experience of working with people with mental ill-health and disability into the classroom, and the RTO has steadily built its accessibility practice so that everyone can access its courses.

Orygen registered as an RTO provider in 2022 and is part of the Knowledge Translation division at Orygen, the National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health. We are based in Victoria and provide tuition to students nationally through our online course model. Since our establishment, we have engaged 152 students through four cohorts, with a new cohort joining us in September 2026.

A consistent thread runs through this work: content, assessments and class formats are designed with accessibility in mind from the start. The most visible expression of that approach is the current cohort, which is fully Auslan-interpreted.

A fully Auslan-interpreted cohort

Incorporating full Auslan interpretation across the current cohort allows d/Deaf students who are Auslan users to access tertiary education. This has been supported by funding from the Victorian Department of Health. The online classes are interpreted live, and we have ensured assessments and placements have Auslan options for students that require it.

Genuine inclusivity of d/Deaf experiences in these classes has not only meant Auslan users can access education, but it has also allowed every student to learn about diverse communication in real time. While we only have one current student who is an Auslan user, the impact of inclusivity has been an incredible opportunity for all students to boost their career-readiness. It has prepared them to work with d/Deaf individuals or people with diverse communication needs, ensuring accessible practice goes beyond the classroom.

Building staff capability

Staff engaged proactively in training on best practice when working with Auslan users through co-learning from staff with existing d/Deaf accessibility knowledge, as well as accessing resources and learning materials from organisations such as Expression Australia, Deaf Connected, Arts Access Victoria and DeafNav. They continue to build their understanding of Deaf culture and how to support d/Deaf students through ongoing discussion, shared learning and feedback. Specific practices the team has adopted include:

• adjusting the way they speak in class so that content can be interpreted well
• breaking down jargon
• building an understanding of d/Deaf English
• supporting all students to shift how they communicate in class, so the classroom is accessible to everyone.

This is capability work that models inclusive practice for both students and staff.

Inclusion as part of the learning

For students preparing for mental health peer work, the inclusion of d/Deaf experience in the classroom is directly career-relevant. They are likely to work with d/Deaf people and people with diverse communication needs in their future roles, and the classroom has become a place where inclusive practice is modelled rather than just described.

Accessible by design

Alongside the interpreted cohort, Orygen has embedded accessibility across its course delivery, building it in at the design stage rather than retrofitting it when a student asks. This is the practice most readily transferable to other providers, because it does not depend on external funding.

Proactive student support

Many students do not know that accommodations are available to them, so the team makes a point of raising them early and often:

• Accommodations are explained in early information sessions, set out in the student handbook, and raised in conversations with trainers.
• Students complete a language, literacy and numeracy (LLN) and digital literacy quiz before starting the course, so support needs are picked up early and support plans are in place from the beginning.
• Trainers are proficient in a range of accessibility practices, and adjustments are always worked out in collaboration with the student so that their unique needs are accommodated.

Content, assessment and delivery

• Content uses accessible language, appropriate colour contrast and text size, screen-readable options and captioning.
• Assessments offer multiple methods of submission to account for different learning styles.
• Classes are run to accommodate different needs, including adapted descriptions and questioning, direct communication, explanation of metaphors, and text response options.

Listening to students

Orygen encourages student feedback throughout each student’s journey with the course, rather than waiting for an end-of-course survey. The team reports significant positive feedback that has validated its practices, and notes that students who suggest improvements have expressed appreciation for the adaptability, flexibility and genuine care behind the approach.

Treating feedback as a continuous loop, where students can see their suggestions acted on, is the kind of mechanism the 2025 Standards for RTOs now expect providers to demonstrate. This can be seen in feedback such as the following:

The Cert IV in Mental Health Peer Support provided by Orygen has been an incredible opportunity for my personal development and growth and my professional development as well. This course challenged and motivated me in the best ways possible; the learning and resources I gained from this course provided me with the incredible opportunity to work in my current role as a peer support worker within the HOPE suicide prevention service in my local area. The course is accessible and thoughtful towards its cohort, is receptive to feedback and lets the learners share how best they can learn and be supported throughout the course.

This course has been a great learning experience. The content was so easy to relate to the workforce. Also, our trainers were engaging and accountable. I am going to miss them! Thank-you, Orygen, for providing such a collaborative and provoking learning environment.

Enablers and challenges

What helped

• Funding from the Victorian Department of Health made full live interpretation of the cohort possible.
• Trainers have lived experience of working with people with mental ill-health and disability. This sets the tone for how accessibility is discussed and acted on.
• A culture of proactive, ongoing staff learning was developed through discussion, shared learning and feedback, rather than one-off training.
• Accessibility is built into enrolment information, the handbook, content, assessment and placement, rather than carried by a single role or process.

What was harder

• Developing accessible assessment and support processes that simultaneously provided a rigorous assessment environment, allowed for diverse accessibility and was able to be managed by our small team proved challenging and dependent on deeply listening and learning from student and trainer feedback.
• Ensuring this course was completely in line with current peer work best practice raised demands from our peer work trainers to embed current experience and expertise into outdated criteria.
• Learning a new way to provide classes and content that are meaningfully interpreted is a journey we are committed to. As with anything new, we have had to move through the unknown to ensure everyone in class can access learning, such as reworking how we speak or describe information.

Practical steps for adaptation

The elements of this practice that do not depend on external funding can be adopted by any provider. Drawn directly from what Orygen has done:

• Tell students about accommodations early and through more than one channel: information sessions, the handbook and direct conversations with trainers.
• Run an LLN and digital literacy check before the course starts, and use the results to put support plans in place from day one.
• Build accessibility into content as it is developed: accessible language, colour contrast, text size, screen-readable formats and captioning.
• Ensure you have enough sources of funding for an interpreter.
• Make sure all staff are trained to understand all kinds of communication with Auslan users, including with interpreters, in written form and other ways of communicating.
• Understand Deaf culture beyond just language translation.
• Offer more than one way to submit assessments.
• Work out adjustments with the student, not for them.
• Treat staff accessibility learning as ongoing and shared, through discussion and feedback, rather than a one-off module.

Mapping: National Vocational Education and Training Regulator (Outcome Standards for Registered Training Organisations) Instrument 2025