Blind Screen Reader Users
People who use JAWS, NVDA, or VoiceOver on desktop and mobile.
Usability Testing
Hear directly from people with disabilities.
Accessibility standards can identify important requirements. Expert testing can identify technical and interaction barriers. But neither can fully tell you what it is like for a person with a disability to actually use your product.
C4AT conducts usability testing with people with disabilities to understand what works, what creates barriers, and what could make the experience better.
Standards tell us whether something meets accessibility requirements. People tell us whether it actually works.
Different People. Different Ways of Using Technology.
There is no single disability experience and no single way people interact with technology. We build each testing panel around the product, its audience, and the tasks people need to complete.
People With Low Vision
People who use screen magnification, ZoomText, Fusion, enlarged text, high contrast, or customized display settings.
People With Mobility Disabilities
People who use switch access, eye-gaze systems, keyboard-only navigation, Dragon, Voice Control, or other voice-input technology.
Neurodivergent People and People With Learning Disabilities
People who can identify barriers involving language, memory, attention, navigation, and task complexity, including people who use text-to-speech, speech-to-text, word prediction, and other supportive technologies.
Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Participants
People who can evaluate captions, transcripts, alerts, and other alternatives to audio.
People With Multiple Disabilities
People who use combinations of technologies and strategies that a single-profile test may not represent.
We select profiles that reflect the goals of each engagement. A panel may focus deeply on one access method or bring together several perspectives to evaluate the same experience.
Nothing About Us Without Us
People with disabilities are central to how we work.
Our user testing panels can include people who use screen readers, magnification, voice input, switch access, eye gaze, keyboard-only navigation, text-to-speech, speech-to-text, word prediction, and other assistive technologies, as well as people whose cognitive, sensory, or mobility access does not depend on a specific tool.
Their experience shapes what we test, what we recommend, and how we help teams decide what to improve first.
What User Testing Can Reveal
A product can meet a technical requirement and still be confusing, inefficient, frustrating, or difficult to use.
- Can people find what they need?
- Can they understand what is happening?
- Can they complete important tasks?
- Do controls behave as expected?
- Are instructions and errors understandable?
- Does assistive technology provide enough information?
- Are there barriers that technical evaluation did not reveal?
How User Testing Works
Define
Identify what we need to learn.
We work with you to identify the product, experience, tasks, audiences, and questions that matter.
Include
Bring in the right participants.
We identify participants whose disabilities, access needs, and ways of interacting with technology are relevant to the research.
Listen
Observe the experience.
Participants use the product while we observe, ask questions, and learn where the experience works and where barriers appear.
Apply
Turn what we learn into action.
We identify patterns, explain findings, and help your team understand opportunities for improvement.
People Are Participants, Not Test Cases
People with disabilities bring expertise from their own experiences with technology.
We approach usability research as a collaboration. Participants are there to tell us about their experience, not to prove whether a product is accessible.
When one participant encounters a barrier, that experience matters. When patterns appear across participants, they can reveal broader problems and opportunities.
A Fuller Picture of Accessibility
Usability testing provides direct evidence about people's experiences. It does not replace accessibility standards or expert technical evaluation. C4AT often combines these approaches.
Standards
What should be accessible?
Expert Testing
What barriers can we identify?
People With Disabilities
What happens when people actually use it?
What You Learn
Depending on the engagement, findings can include:
Observed Barriers
Where participants encountered difficulty.
Successful Experiences
What worked well and should be preserved.
Participant Feedback
What people told us about their experience.
Patterns
Issues or experiences that appeared across sessions.
Impact
How barriers affected tasks and interactions.
Recommendations
Practical opportunities for improving the experience.
Test Throughout the Product Lifecycle
Concepts & Prototypes
Learn before development is complete.
New Features
Understand accessibility before or around launch.
Existing Products
Find barriers in real-world use.
Remediation
Determine whether proposed fixes actually improve the experience.
AI-Powered Experiences
Understand new interaction patterns and accessibility barriers.
Explore AI & Digital Accessibility →Want to Know How Your Product Works for People With Disabilities?
Bring people with disabilities into the process and learn directly from their experience.
User testing can stand alone or be incorporated into an Accessibility Audit, Accessibility Monitoring program, or Accessibility Partnership.