WordPress Accessibility Day 2025 Archive

Real Inclusion: How To Run Insightful and Respectful User Testing With Disabled People

Intermediate

October 16, 2025 at 07:00 UTC

Inclusive design is not truly inclusive without disabled voices. Too often, accessibility testing is focused on box ticking, is completely tokenistic, or missing entirely. In this practical session, you’ll learn how to set up and run user testing sessions that genuinely include and empower disabled people. Drawing on real-world experience, I’ll cover everything from ethical recruitment and participant payment to accessible session logistics and thoughtful moderation techniques.

This talk will help demystify inclusive research for those who want to do the right thing but feel unsure where to start. It offers concrete, actionable strategies for creating a user testing environment that is respectful, comfortable, and insight-rich. Whether you’re a designer, developer, researcher, or product owner, you will come away with a clearer understanding of what inclusive user testing really involves and how to do it well.

Speaker

Lucy Collins, a white woman in her mid-30s with long blonde hair, leans against a pale stone wall at Web Usability HQ. She wears a teal t shirt and has a big smile on her face.
Director, Web Usability