Michele Williams

Accessible UX Research (Pre-Release)

Make your UX research inclusive. Learn how to recruit, plan, and design with disabled participants in mind.

Print shipping in August 2025. eBook available for download later this summer. Written by Dr. Michele A. Williams. Cover art by Espen Brunborg.

Published on August 2025
Tags: Accessibility, UX

Print + eBook

Quality hardcover. Free worldwide shipping starting in August 2025.
100 days money-back-guarantee.

eBook

DRM-free, of course. ePUB, Kindle, PDF available for download later this summer.
Included with your Smashing Membership.

“Accessible UX Research stands as a vital and necessary resource. In addressing disability at the User Experience Research layer, it helps to set an equal and equitable tone for products and features that resonates through the rest of the creation process. The book provides a solid framework for all aspects of conducting research efforts, including not only process considerations, but also importantly the mindset required to approach the work. This is the book I wish I had when I was first getting started with my accessibility journey. It is a gift, and I feel so fortunate that Michele has chosen to share it with us all.”

Eric Bailey

Accessibility Advocate

About The Book

Meet Accessible UX Research, your guide to making UX research more inclusive of participants with different needs — from planning and recruiting to facilitation, asking better questions, avoiding bias, and building trust.

The book isn’t a checklist for you to complete as a part of your accessibility work. It’s a practical guide to inclusive UX research, from start to finish. If you’ve ever felt unsure how to include disabled participants, or worried about “getting it wrong,” this book is for you. You’ll get clear, practical strategies to make your research more inclusive, effective, and reliable.

Inside, you’ll learn how to:

Plan research that includes disabled participants from the start,
Recruit participants with disabilities,
Facilitate sessions that work for a range of access needs,
Ask better questions and avoid unintentionally biased research methods,
Build trust and confidence in your team around accessibility and inclusion.

The book also challenges common assumptions about disability and urges readers to rethink what inclusion really means in UX research and beyond. Let’s move beyond compliance and start doing research that reflects the full diversity of your users. Whether you’re in industry or academia, this book gives you the tools — and the mindset — to make it happen.

High-quality hardcover. Written by Dr. Michele A. Williams. Cover art by Espen Brunborg. Shipping starting in August 2025. eBook available for download later this summer.

Who Is This Book For?

Whether a UX professional who conducts research in industry or academia, or more broadly part of an engineering, product, or design function, you’ll want to read this book if…

You have been tasked to improve accessibility of your product, but need to know where to start to facilitate this successfully.
You want to establish a culture for accessibility in your company, but not sure how to make it work.
You want to move from WCAG/EAA compliance to established accessibility practices and inclusion in research practices and beyond.
You want to improve your overall accessibility knowledge and be viewed as an Accessibility Specialist for your organization.

Print + eBook

Quality hardcover. Free worldwide shipping starting in August 2025.
100 days money-back-guarantee.

eBook

DRM-free, of course. ePUB, Kindle, PDF available for download later this summer.
Included with your Smashing Membership.

1. Disability Mindset +: For inclusive research to succeed, we must first confront our mindset about disability, typically influenced by ableism.
2. Diversity of Disability +: Accessibility is not solely about blind screen reader users; disability categories help us unpack and process the diversity of disabled users.
3. Disability in the Stages of UX Research +: Disabled participants can and should be part of every research phase — formative, prototype, and summative.
4. Recruiting Disabled Participants +: Recruiting disabled participants is not always easy, but that simply means we need to learn strategies on where to look.
5. Designing Your Research +: While our goal is to influence accessible products, our research execution must also be accessible.
6. Facilitating an Accessible Study +: Preparation and communication with your participants can ensure your study logistics run smoothly.
7. Analyzing and Reporting with Accuracy and … +: How you communicate your findings is just as important as gathering them in the first place — so prepare to be a storyteller, educator, and advocate.
8. Disability in the UX Research Field +: Inclusion isn’t just for research participants, it’s important for our colleagues as well, as explained by blind UX Researcher Dr. Cynthia Bennett.

About The Author

Dr. Michele A. Williams is owner of M.A.W. Consulting, LLC - Making Accessibility Work. Her 20+ years of experience include influencing top tech companies as a Senior User Experience (UX) Researcher and Accessibility Specialist and obtaining a PhD in Human-Centered Computing focused on accessibility. An international speaker, published academic author, and patented inventor, she is passionate about educating and advising on technology that does not exclude disabled users.

Print + eBook

Quality hardcover. Free worldwide shipping starting in August 2025.
100 days money-back-guarantee.

eBook

DRM-free, of course. ePUB, Kindle, PDF available for download later this summer.
Included with your Smashing Membership.

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