Smashing Magazine has published 'Accessible UX Research,' a 324-page guide by Dr. Michele A. Williams covering how to recruit, facilitate, and report on UX research that includes disabled participants. The book runs from foundational mindset work in Chapter 1 through seven chapters ending on analysis and reporting. A foreword comes from Jared Smith of WebAIM. A free PDF sample, 2.3MB, is available now.

The book is not a compliance checklist. It addresses the full research cycle: writing unbiased questions, sourcing disabled participants when typical recruiting channels fail, configuring assistive technologies in test environments, and communicating findings with enough clarity to change product decisions. Chapter 2 alone dismantles the assumption that accessibility means screen reader support for blind users, then maps the actual diversity of disability categories researchers will encounter.

The argument worth reading in full is Williams's case that sloppy inclusion at the research stage compounds into inaccessible products at launch, and that most teams skip disabled participants not out of malice but out of uncertainty about process. The book targets that uncertainty directly. Printed copies are now shipping to US customers after a customs and tariff disruption that halted international orders for several months.

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