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By Gina Ryan
Workplace training is under pressure from two directions at once.
On one side, organisations need people to perform consistently and safely. Training has to land, not just be delivered. On the other side, the workforce is more varied than most training materials assume, with differences in experience, literacy, confidence, culture and how people process information. When training is designed for an “neurotypical learner”, it often works brilliantly for some and quietly creates barriers for others.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a practical way to respond. UDL is a research-based framework that helps organisations design training that works for more people, not by lowering standards, but by building flexibility into how learning is designed and checked. It anticipates variation rather than reacting to it. In practical terms, it helps trainers, mentors, supervisors and L&D teams create learning that is clearer, more usable and more likely to transfer to the job.
That is the focus of Design for All: A Practical Introduction to UDL for Industry. It’s a one-day, hands-on workshop (in person or virtual) plus a 60-minute follow-up mentoring session for each learner. The goal is simple: help participants apply UDL to real workplace training so small design changes can make learning more flexible, engaging and effective.
The shift already happening in workplaces
A few years ago, UDL was often discussed mainly in schools or higher education. That has changed. Neurodiversity is no longer a niche topic and workplaces are increasingly aware of the need to create learning environments where employees can learn effectively, safely and efficiently.
This framing matters. UDL isn’t an abstract inclusion initiative. It’s a practical capability that supports performance and safety. Gina describes it as ensuring “any potential employee… can learn efficiently and effectively because they are ready to train them and upskill them in the way they need to be trained and upskilled.”
Myth to dispel: “UDL is only for learners who have a disclosed need”
One of the biggest misunderstandings is that inclusive design is only relevant when a learner declares a diagnosis or asks for an accommodation.
UDL takes a different approach. It starts from the assumption that variation is normal. People bring different levels of experience, literacy, neurodiversity, cultural perspectives and confidence with learning technologies. Training that works well for one group can create barriers for another. UDL helps you design with that reality in mind.
In the interview, Gina describes why people lean in when the concept is introduced:
“Once I introduce the concepts, people are curious to know more… most of the time it’s because they are either neurodiverse themselves and have never voiced it or have family… and they are very much looking to help industry embrace what they will need in the coming years.”
That’s one reason UDL works so well as a proactive design approach. It creates a respectful learning environment where people can engage effectively without needing to explain personal details.
What UDL looks like in workplace terms
UDL is built around three principles:
If those sound academic, the workplace translation is very practical. Gina summarises it as:
“How it is that you make the information relevant… then how do I present the information to you… and then how do I allow you to express to me that you’ve learned it.”
Let’s break those down in plain workplace language.
1) Engagement starts with relevance, not delivery style
If the learner cannot see the point, motivation drops. Engagement is about making learning meaningful for the role and context, not just presenting information. A useful check is: What does this mean for you in your role and why does it matter today?
This matters in industry because training is often compliance-driven. People may attend because they have to, not because they want to. UDL prompts you to build relevance into the design so learners connect the learning to real work decisions and real consequences.
2) Representation means more than one way to take in information
A lot of workplace learning is still text-heavy. When information is provided in only one format, some people struggle to apply it. UDL encourages you to offer more than one way to access the same content, so learners can absorb it effectively.
In practice, this often comes down to clarity and usability: improving structure, reducing unnecessary cognitive load and presenting key points in more than one form so the content is consistent but easier to process.
3) Action and Expression is how people show competence, not how they prefer to learn
In the workplace, the goal is reliable performance. If you only allow one way to demonstrate learning, you may be measuring comfort with the format rather than true understanding. UDL encourages options such as talk, write, show, or demonstrate, while keeping standards clear.
This is especially relevant in operational environments where learning is often “proven” through paperwork. UDL nudges a better question: what evidence would show competence clearly in the real job context?
A practical workplace example: the text-only SOP
If there’s one example that shows why UDL matters in industry, it’s the “text-only SOP”.
Gina explains it plainly:
“We all know what an SOP is… and a lot of them can be just written as text only. So you hand it to somebody… and the words don’t make sense, they can’t apply it”
This is a key insight for workplaces: a capable person can still struggle if the learning resource is one-dimensional. The problem is not the person. It’s the design.
And the fix is often not rewriting the SOP from scratch. It can be small, practical changes that make the same information easier to absorb and apply. Gina gives examples:
“Practical things like creating a video, changing the font, taking off italics, changing the background… and giving them a different way to show that they have learned can make all the difference.”
A simple improvement is creating a short video version of a text SOP. Adding subtitles allows learners to pause, replay, absorb audio and see the words if that helps. It turns a single format resource into something learners can engage with at their own pace.
Just as importantly, UDL encourages you to think about how you confirm learning. In many workplaces, sign-off is a signature. In reality, competence might be better confirmed through a short demonstration, a walk-through, a “talk me through it” check, or an observed practice step. You keep the standard the same, but you make the evidence of competence clearer.
Another myth to dispel: “Inclusive design means lowering standards”
It’s understandable that some managers worry about this, especially in regulated industries where standards matter.
Here’s the reality: UDL is not about lowering the bar. It’s about removing unnecessary barriers so more people can engage with learning and demonstrate competence effectively, while keeping the expected standard consistent.
Gina puts it in a way that resonates with trainers and supervisors:
“How you like to take in information is not necessarily how I might like to take information in… you’re thinking in a more open way about… what modality do I need to use?”
That mindset shift is where the performance benefit comes from. If you only allow one way to learn and one way to show learning, you risk measuring comfort with the method rather than competence. UDL gives you a structure for keeping standards clear while widening the ways people can reach and evidence that standard.
Small changes can make a massive difference
One of the reasons UDL works well in workplace settings is that it doesn’t require a full redesign of everything.
In fact, people often discover they already do parts of it. Gina describes what happens when teams start to apply the principles:
“Sharing the UDL principles… can tell them, well actually, I’m doing 30% of that already. I didn’t realise it… small things… can make massive difference.”
This matters because workplace training is always under time pressure. The “small wins” approach makes UDL adoptable. You can start by improving one slide, one handout, one activity, one sign-off step, or one SOP-based induction module and still see real improvements in clarity and confidence.
What participants do in the programme (practical and applied)
UDL becomes valuable when it’s applied to real work, not left as theory. On this programme, participants learn the three principles and apply them directly to their own training materials. They:
The aim is that learners leave with something they can use immediately, not just a new set of terms.
Who this is for
This programme is designed for people who influence workplace learning, whether that is your job title or simply part of your role. It is for:
It also has strong relevance for supervisors and shift leaders involved in induction and process training, because it helps people think differently about how information is made accessible and how competence is confirmed.
Key takeaways (quick summary)
If you are responsible for workplace training, mentoring, induction, or learning design, UDL is one of the most practical frameworks you can add to your toolkit.
Design for All: A Practical Introduction to UDL for Industry is a one-day workshop (in person or virtual) plus a 60-minute follow-up mentoring session. You’ll apply the principles directly to a real training element, evaluate it with a checklist and leave with an action plan you can implement immediately.
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2026