Inclusive Research - Making research accessible to people with disabilities

A presentation at User Centred Design Gathering by Lauren Isaacson

When designs are inclusive, everyone wins. Curb cutouts facilitate wheelchairs, baby strollers, and rolling suitcases. Smartphone interfaces that can be operated with one hand work for people with an amputated limb, a broken arm, or a heavy bag full of groceries. What about the research informing these inclusive designs? The research we do to inform and test these designs should also be inclusive. How do we apply these same principles to UX research and how do we get our companies and teams on board? In this session we’ll discuss the foundational understanding of people with disabilities, why we should make our research inclusive, and how to best make our research accessible to people with disabilities. When we conduct research inclusively, everyone wins.

Video

Resources

The following resources were mentioned during the presentation or are useful additional information.

  • Inclusive Research Accomodation Checklist

    A list of to-dos to help ensure an accessible research methodology, covering setting, mode of presentation, mode of response, scheduling and timing. Adapted from National Institute of Health; Diane Rios ScD, Susan Magasi PhD, Catherine Novak RN MS, and Mark Harniss PhD.

  • Strategies for Inclusive Research Design

    A list of things to do during recruiting, the provision of consent, facility access, transportation, and the presentation of information depending on the type of disability he research participant has. Adapted from National Institute of Health; Diane Rios ScD, Susan Magasi PhD, Catherine Novak RN MS, and Mark Harniss PhD.

  • Inclusive Recruiting Screener Questions

    A list of potential questions to include in the recruiting screener to identify and qualify people with disabilities for research. Adapted from National Institute of Health; Diane Rios ScD, Susan Magasi PhD, Catherine Novak RN MS, and Mark Harniss PhD.

  • Research Accessibility Blog Series

    A series of posts further detailing elements of the presentation: types of disabilities, etiquette, recruiting, qualitative research, and quantitative research.