Meaningful inclusion: Practicing accessibility research with confidence
Summary
Practicing meaningful inclusion in your research and design work requires learning from a wide range of users, including people with disabilities. Still, applying your existing UX principles and methodologies towards accessibility research can feel daunting for practitioners who rarely get to work with assistive technology users and people with disabilities. Join Kavana Ramesh, a UX Researcher at Fable with hundreds of hours of accessibility research, as she shares a reflective framework for how to build confidence in your team.
Key Insights
-
•
Inclusive design drives innovation benefiting all users, not just those with disabilities.
-
•
Captions and voice assistants are innovations initially created for accessibility but widely adopted by all.
-
•
Practitioners often feel overwhelmed due to lack of exposure to assistive technology users.
-
•
Familiarity with assistive technology, through observation or direct interaction, reduces fear and builds confidence.
-
•
Power dynamics in research sessions can be mitigated by empowering assistive technology users as experts.
-
•
Assistive technologies fall broadly into screen readers, screen magnifiers, and alternative navigation tools.
-
•
Research facilitators should adapt protocols flexibly to accommodate users' needs for equitable, not necessarily equal, experiences.
-
•
Time-based metrics may be less meaningful than tracking blockers or pain points for assistive technology users.
-
•
Assistive technology users often face barriers from standard UX elements requiring workarounds.
-
•
Repeated practice with different assistive technologies is essential for UX practitioners to gain competence and confidence.
Notable Quotes
"Captions and subtitles were initially designed for people who are deaf or hard of hearing but over 50% of Americans watch content with subtitles."
"Trying something new can feel very daunting, especially if you rarely interact with people who use assistive technology."
"You’re really there to learn because the person with assistive technology is the expert of their setup."
"Think of assistive technology in three categories: screen readers, screen magnification, and alternative navigation."
"It’s like showing up to a building and the elevator’s not working, so you have to take the stairs—that’s what happens when my preferred navigation methods don’t work."
"Watching users navigate with assistive technology exposes you to barriers that people with disabilities face online."
"Assistive technology can feel like another person in the room during a research session, which you have to understand and include."
"Adapt your protocol as needed to support different users; equity may mean not treating everyone exactly the same."
"Tracking blockers and pain points is often more useful than just tracking time for tasks in inclusive research."
"Everyone benefits from thinking about accessibility, and inclusion can lead to more confident and better design practices."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Our hypothesis was we could create better product faster with more eyes looking at the problem, not just product."
Iain McMaster IHan ChengDesign and Product: from Frenemy to Harmony
November 29, 2023
"OKRs are not one-size-fits-all; you have to shape them based on your organizational context and culture."
Bria Alexander Benson Low Natalya Pemberton Stephanie GoldthorpeOKRs—Helpful or Harmful?
January 20, 2022
"Candor and passionate feedback from participants shows they believe their input matters and are willing to be vulnerable."
Nidhi Singh Rathore Amber DavisEmbracing participation to unlock deeper truths in commercial research
March 12, 2025
"Technologies don't have universal impact; what happens in New York vs Jakarta can be very different."
Prayag Narula Rida QadriHCI 2.0: Humanity Deserves the Attention that UX Research has to Offer
March 28, 2023
"The only time you get to build design ops at the same time as the organization structure is like in startups, but they’re so chaotic you don’t get to enjoy it."
Dan WillisFilling the Void
November 7, 2018
"If people are complaining about the present, it’s very difficult to imagine a future without addressing current challenges."
Robert Fabricant Sahibzada Mayed Nidhi Singh RathoreIndustry junctures: Paths forwards for UXR and the critical decisions that get us there [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
October 2, 2024
"Secondary research can be time-saving, letting you spend more time on deep analysis rather than data collection."
Cara Maritz Rachel NyThe Art of Extrapolation
March 29, 2023
"You need to be just as careful conducting interviews in Beverly Hills as in poorer neighborhoods; wealth does not guarantee safety."
Yasmine KhanChecking Bias and Listening to Financially Vulnerable Americans
March 30, 2020
"Design roles are blurring or dead; super senior individual contributor roles are emerging as a new career path."
Peter MerholzThe 2025 State of UX/Design Organizational Health
November 12, 2025
