
Fable webinar recap: Accessibility research experts weigh in on embracing discomfort and breaking down barriers
Uncovering usability barriers in digital products requires getting the perspectives of people with disabilities. So why does it feel so hard to get started with inclusive accessibility research? How can you overcome the apprehension and kickstart an unfamiliar process? And what does it take to bring accessibility research into your product development processes from the start?
We know these questions are on the minds of UX researchers. So, we pulled together a few experts who can speak to different angles of the research/participant dynamic when gathering accessibility insights in a webinar titled “Who’s missing from this study? How accessibility research unlocks insights for inclusive design”.
Fable’s accessibility research team spent an hour together busting myths and sharing their first-hand experiences. They offered practical advice on how to build rapport with assistive technology users, lean into learning, and navigate barriers with confidence and empathy. They also shared the things they wish they knew when they first started doing accessibility research.
Fable’s accessibility research experts

Elana Chapman, Senior Manager, Accessibility Research

Tiago Einloft, UX Researcher

Laur Baek, UX Researcher

Sam Proulx, Accessibility Evangelist
No time to watch? Here are the highlights.
You can watch a recording of the whole conversation or keep reading if you’d prefer to skim the highlights. Here’s what you’ll learn:
- Why inclusive design isn’t possible without the participation of people with disabilities
- Why you don’t have to be the expert in all things assistive technology
- How to treat barriers as learning opportunities
- Why it’s critical to prioritize progress over perfection
One hour-long conversation. Six highly actionable takeaways.
- Excluding people with disabilities biases research
- You won’t get through as many tasks (and that’s OK)
- There’s no such thing as “failing a task”
- You don’t have to be an assistive technology expert
- Barriers are just learning experiences in disguise
- Perfection can be a limitation
Takeaway 1: Excluding people with disabilities biases research
Samuel Proulx, Accessibility Evangelist at Fable kicked off the chat with an important reminder that together people with disabilities and the aging population make up a large percentage of the global population. Conducting research with the people who use assistive technologies in their day-to-day lives is critical for learning about the barriers and friction points they experience.
“When we don’t include the voices of these folks, we are inherently biasing our research,” says Sam. “And yet, it’s still not happening. We’re still not quite cultivating that ongoing research process involving people with disabilities.”
The effects of this gap are significant. Only by learning about the barriers people with disabilities face and how they try to work around them will we achieve more inclusive digital design for everyone—including our future selves.
Takeaway 2: You won’t get through as many tasks (and that’s OK)
It can be humbling to conduct an interview where the digital experience isn’t meeting user expectations. It can also throw a wrench into your plans around task completion. This doesn’t need to be a problem. In fact, fewer tasks often generate denser insights when you’re working with assistive technology users.
Laur Baek, UX Researcher at Fable, says that when you work this way, you’re uncovering richer insights around both accessibility and usability.
“One thing I love about UX research with assistive technology users is we get to see all of these workarounds and amazing problem-solving abilities. Despite the number of barriers they face, they typically look for solutions and often find them.”
– Laur Baek, UX Researcher
According to our experts, this learned behavior to problem solve and find workarounds—no matter how long it takes—can be both a blessing and a curse.
Takeaway 3: There’s no such thing as “failing a task”
An assistive technology tester might approach a research session determined not to fail. You can’t blame them for wanting to do a great job. But you can (and should) let them know that they don’t have to try and get around every barrier.
Be clear that you want to know when a task is problematic, what the specific issues are, and their proposed solutions for solving the problem.
Help participants move to the next task with confidence that they are adding value instead of feeling defeated and thinking they haven’t performed to your expectations.
“You have a participant who just wants to try everything under the sun, but you’re up against a time constraint,” says Elana Chapman, CPWA Certified Senior Manager in Accessibility Research. “You want your participant to feel like they’re adding value in that conversation, but there’s also performance anxiety in being a participant.”
Takeaway 4: You don’t have to be an assistive technology expert
If a lack of familiarity with assistive technology is preventing you from running accessible research, we have good news: you can get started any time. If you’re worried that you’ll offend a person with a disability if you don’t know how their assistive technology works, lead with curiosity and respect. Bonus: you’ll also build your knowledge and confidence.
Tiago Einloft, UX Researcher at Fable, clearly remembers feeling apprehensive when he started conducting accessibility research with Fable’s community of assistive technology users. His solution? Take the first five minutes to build rapport.
Nobody uses their assistive technology with the default settings. And people who rely on the same assistive technologies will use them a little bit differently when they navigate through digital experiences. So, Tiago recommends asking a participant to demonstrate how their assistive technology works.
“I do remember my first ‘aha moment’ where I was like, ‘Wow! This is how someone who uses a screen reader navigates through form fields,’” says Tiago. “The participant took 45 minutes to finish a form field, and I was thinking that the experience was the worst. It took so long to finish the task.”
When Tiago asked this participant how they felt about the experience they told him it was pretty good. The experience felt accessible because they could finish the requested tasks.
Takeaway 5: Barriers are just learning experiences in disguise
When you’re conducting accessibility research there will be times when you observe how a product design choice negatively impacts an assistive technology user. Elana advises that it’s important not to spiral into a dark place if this happens.
“It’s hard to be faced with the realization of how you impact other people,” she says. “Everyone in the accessibility field has that dip in emotional energy because it feels like there’s so much to do. You have to be kind to yourself and your team members and celebrate wins. Learning takes time and you need to do it in a way that works for you.”
Tiago believes that identifying barriers doesn’t mean you designed your research session wrong or that it needs to end abruptly. Instead, he sees it as an opportunity to learn more about the barrier from the participant’s perspective.
“There’s so much you can learn when you uncover a barrier. “How often does it happen? How did the participant feel when it happened? What are their workarounds? The key here is learning from each other and co-creating to prevent it happening in the future.”
– Tiago Einloft, UX Researcher
Even if a large percentage of assistive technology users experience barriers when completing a task, they will often give it a high Accessible Usability Scale (AUS) score, which is a measure of the perceived usability of a digital product for assistive technology users.
As a daily user of assistive technology, Sam backs this finding up. “I’ve had that experience where someone is apologizing for how bad something is and I’m thinking, well, I’ve had to deal with three things that are worse than this before breakfast.”
Takeaway 6: Perfection can be a limitation
Here’s one final takeaway from our expert panel: the most important thing with accessibility research is not to overthink and just get started. Accessibility isn’t something that magically happens. It’s a muscle that is built over time.
“In my opinion, 100% accessibility doesn’t truly exist. It’s more about the steps we can take to start building momentum. You’re doing it for the long term, so you need to think about how to sustainably start and keep making incremental improvements.”
– Elana Chapman, Senior Manager, Accessibility Research
These incremental improvements also build your team’s confidence. Everyone takes important lessons from your accessibility research.
- Your designers may feel more confident after understanding a new concept around accessibility.
- Your engineers spend less time updating code because they are considering accessibility from the start.
- Your organization starts to “shift accessibility left” by including all the right stakeholders on the journey.
All of this makes it easier to repeatedly include more diverse voices early and often in your product development cycles. And that’s the secret to creating more future digital experiences that are inclusive for all.