Usability Testing for Accessibility – How to Plan, Run, and Learn from It

Accessibility evaluation often focuses on WCAG conformance, but more needs to be done to ensure a website’s accessibility.

Usability testing for accessibility fills that gap by involving real users with disabilities. It helps uncover barriers that other tests may overlook.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through what usability testing for accessibility means, why it’s important, and the steps to plan, run, and learn from it effectively.

What Is Usability Testing for Accessibility?

As the phrase suggests, usability testing for accessibility means testing your website, app, or digital product with real people with disabilities to see if it’s truly usable.

In the accessibility testing cycle, usability testing usually comes last. It follows automated scans and manual testing, digging deeper to uncover subtle barriers that only real users can reveal.

Why Usability Testing for Accessibility Is Important

We build products for our users, so whether it’s a website, app, or digital tool, it should work for all of them. Usability testing for accessibility helps ensure that people with disabilities can use your product just as effectively as anyone else.

Here are some of the main reasons it matters:

Real-world validation

Usability testing for accessibility provides real-world validation by going beyond automated scans and manual reviews. It uncovers subtle problems that only people with disabilities can reveal, showing how your website or app truly works with assistive technologies.

Empathy and insight for the team

Watching people with disabilities use your product provides designers and developers with a firsthand understanding of real challenges. This experience builds empathy and often motivates teams to create better, more inclusive solutions.

Better products for a broader audience

Accessibility improvements discovered through usability testing often make products easier for everyone to use, not just people with disabilities. Features like captions, clear navigation, and simple layouts improve usability for everyone and lead to higher satisfaction.

Who Should Be Involved in Accessibility Usability Testing?

Along with people with disabilities, accessibility usability testing also involves facilitators, observers, and sometimes support persons, each with a distinct role.

	Responsibility
Users with disabilities	Perform tasks using their assistive technologies and provide feedback on barriers.
Facilitator / Moderator	Guides the session, gives instructions, asks clarifying questions, and ensures participants are comfortable.
Observers (designers, developers, product owners)	Watch silently, take notes, and learn from real user interactions.
Support persons (if present)	Assist participants with communication or setup needs, but do not take part in tasks.

Where to Find People with Disabilities for Usability Testing

Finding participants with disabilities is easy with the right approach. Specialised platforms and community networks can quickly connect you with diverse users.

Here are some of the best places to look for participants:

Where to Look	Examples
Specialised platforms	Fable, AccessWorks, User Interviews
Disability organisations	Local advocacy groups, national associations
Online communities	Facebook groups, Reddit communities, a11y Slack groups

What Disabilities Should You Consider in Testing?

Ideally, accessibility usability testing should include people from all disability categories. But it may be challenging, so start by focusing on the groups most relevant to your product.

Here are the main categories of disabilities to consider for participant recruitment:

Category	Examples
Vision	Blindness, low vision, colour blindness
Hearing	Deafness, partial hearing loss
Mobility / Motor	Limited hand movement, paralysis, tremors
Cognitive / Learning	Dyslexia, ADHD, autism, memory or processing difficulties
Speech	Speech impairments, muteness, stuttering

Key Tasks to Cover During Usability Testing

During testing, be sure to cover the everyday actions people take on your website or app. The goal is to confirm that users with disabilities can complete these tasks without barriers.

Here are some common tasks you should consider including in your test plan:

Task Category	Examples
Account access	Log in, create an account, reset a password
Navigation	Use menus, browse categories, search for content
Forms	Fill out contact forms, checkout forms, or registration forms
Transactions	Add items to cart, complete a purchase, confirm an order
Content use	Read an article, watch a video, listen to audio
File handling	Download a document, upload a file or a photo
Settings and preferences	Adjust profile details, change accessibility or display settings

How to Plan and Set Up a Test

Accessibility usability testing works best with good planning. A clear process helps you recruit participants, reduce barriers, and collect useful feedback.

1. Start small with clear goals

Choose one part of your product (or website) to test, such as navigation, forms, or checkout. Don’t try to test everything at once. A few focused tasks give you enough insight to start making improvements without overwhelming participants.

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2. Find a few participants

You don’t need a large sample to get meaningful results. Testing with as few as 3–5 people with different disabilities can already uncover a wide range of barriers. In the earlier section, we shared some practical ways to find participants for your sessions.

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3. Keep materials simple

Write instructions and tasks in clear, simple, and easy-to-follow language. Share them in accessible formats, such as Word or tagged PDFs, that work smoothly with screen readers. They don’t need to be polished or fancy; only easy for everyone to read and use.

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4. Test in a familiar setup

Whenever possible, let participants use their own devices and assistive technologies. This gives you feedback that reflects how they actually use your product. If you provide devices, give time for setup and orientation so people feel comfortable.

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5. Allow a little extra time

Expect sessions to take longer than typical usability tests. Participants may need time to adjust their tools or take breaks. Plan for fewer tasks per session so users don’t feel rushed, and you still get quality feedback.

Steps to Take After Usability Testing

Running usability testing gives you valuable insights, but the work doesn’t end when the sessions stop. The real impact comes from how you process, share, and act on the findings.

Here’s a step-by-step approach to make sure your testing leads to real improvements:

Step 1: Organise your findings

Once testing is complete, start by pulling together everything you collected: notes, observer comments, session recordings, and transcripts. Don’t leave anything scattered, as small details often reveal important patterns.

To make sense of the data, group issues so they’re easier to understand and prioritise:

• By task: Break down issues by common flows like login, checkout, or search. This makes it clear where users struggle most.
• By severity: Separate critical blockers (tasks users cannot complete) from minor annoyances (tasks that take longer or confuse).
• By disability type: Note whether issues were specific to vision, hearing, mobility, cognitive, or speech disabilities.

Look for overlaps. If several participants, even with different disabilities, struggled at the same point, that’s a strong signal of a major barrier. These recurring issues should move to the top of your list.

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Step 2: Identify root causes

Listing issues isn’t enough; you need to understand why they happened. Start by reviewing each finding carefully and asking what triggered the problem:

• Was it caused by design (unclear navigation, cluttered layout)?
• Was it caused by code (missing labels, poor ARIA markup)?
• Was it caused by content (unclear instructions, jargon-heavy text)?
• Or did it come from how assistive technology handled the site (e.g., a screen reader not interpreting certain elements correctly)?

Also consider the user’s level of familiarity with their tool. Some problems may be due to inexperience with specific shortcuts or commands.

Whenever possible, try to reproduce the issue yourself. Use different devices, browsers, and assistive technologies to see if the barrier is universal or only happens in certain setups. This helps avoid misdiagnosing the cause and points you to the right type of fix.

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Step 3: Translate issues into fixes

Now turn your findings into clear, actionable steps. Vague notes like “form is hard to use” don’t help anyone. Instead, describe exactly what needs to change and why.

For example:

• “Add descriptive labels to all form fields so screen readers can identify them.”
• “Ensure dropdown menus can be operated using keyboard navigation.”

When prioritising fixes:

• Start with critical blockers. Issues that stop users from completing essential tasks.
• Then address high-friction problems. Issues that make tasks frustrating or slow.
• Finally, tackle minor improvements that polish the overall experience.

Assign each fix to the right team member (developer, designer, or content writer) and track progress. Accessibility issues can easily fall through the cracks without ownership.

Wrapping Up

Usability testing for accessibility fills the gaps that automated scans and manual checks leave behind. It shows how real people with disabilities experience your site or app.

You don’t need a large budget or a massive study to begin. Testing with just a handful of participants can still uncover meaningful barriers and drive significant improvements.

Make usability testing part of your accessibility cycle, alongside automated and manual checks. It’s the step that ensures your product isn’t just compliant, but genuinely usable for everyone.