The Ultimate Accessibility User Testing Guide

Even in our hyper-connected world, many people with disabilities still face barriers when accessing digital content. Organizations have made progress, but persistent accessibility issues continue to create frustrating experiences for users who rely on the web for everything from work to social connections. 

That’s where accessibility user testing — also known as usability testing — comes in. This process involves real people with disabilities testing websites, apps, or digital tools to uncover barriers that automated scans can’t detect. It gives designers and developers direct insight into what works, what doesn’t, and how to make digital products truly accessible.

The goal of accessibility user testing is simple: to create a better experience for everyone. Below, we’ll cover how to get started, key best practices, and how AudioEye helps organizations build a lasting culture of accessibility.

What is Accessibility User Testing and Why It Matters

As mentioned above, accessibility user testing is the process of having individuals with disabilities test a webpage, mobile app, or other digital content to identify barriers that prevent equal access. Unlike automated scans, user testing relies on real user feedback to reveal how well digital experiences work with assistive technologies such as screen readers or voice navigation. 

Remember: The goal is to ensure that all users, regardless of ability, can navigate, understand, and interact with digital content effectively. 

Testing is crucial for several reasons:

• Legal compliance: It helps organizations meet legal accessibility standards, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

• Improved usability: By uncovering real-world barriers, testing ensures that websites and apps are easier to navigate for everyone, not just people with disabilities. This can lead to more revenue opportunities as better user experiences can boost website conversions by up to 400%.

• Enhanced brand experience: A commitment to accessibility strengthens brand reputation. 

The bottom line: Accessibility user testing not only ensures compliance (which keeps your legal risk low) but creates a better, more efficient digital environment for all users.

Who Should Be Involved in Accessibility User Testing

Creating an effective testing team requires a mix of expertise and perspectives. Accessibility user testing works best when it brings together multiple roles, each contributing specific insights:

• Accessibility experts: These are professionals who understand ADA and WCAG standards and can guide the testing process, ensuring it targets the most critical accessibility barriers. 

• UX designers: Designers can help translate user feedback into actionable improvements, building interfaces that are intuitive and accessible.

• Developers: Developers implement fixes based on test results and ensure that accessibility improvements are correctly integrated into the code.

• Real users with disabilities: This group is essential. Including people who rely on assistive technologies, such as keyboard or screen reader users, in the testing process helps uncover barriers that experts or automated tools might miss. 

To get the most out of testing, try to include participants with a range of abilities. Testing with 5-10 users per disability type often uncovers the majority of accessibility issues and makes the process more efficient and effective.

Stylized web browser with a pop-up of a bulleted list; a magnifying glass over the accessibility symbol is in the right corner. Icons of gears are faded in the background.

How to Plan and Conduct Accessibility User Testing (Step-by-Step)

With the what and the how of accessibility user testing covered, let’s get into the how. 

1. Define Goals and Success Metrics

Before you start the testing process, take the time to define your goals and your success metrics. Are you testing for compliance with ADA/WCAG? Improving usability? Evaluating a specific workflow? 

From here, set success metrics, such as task completion rates, error rates, or satisfaction scores. This will help you measure progress and effectiveness. 

2. Recruit Users with Diverse Disabilities

From here, start recruiting testers. As mentioned above, you’ll want to find users with various disabilities, such as visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive disabilities. When deciding which disabilities to prioritize, consider your audience and the most common barriers that your users might face. 

When recruiting participants, try to test with 5-10 users per disability type, as this will help you find the majority of accessibility issues.

3. Develop Real-World Test Tasks

Next, create tasks that reflect how people might actually use your digital content. Examples include completing a purchase, filling out a form, or navigating key site sections. Realistic tasks ensure testing uncovers practical, everyday accessibility barriers.

4. Conduct Testing Sessions

During testing sessions, observe users interacting with your digital content. Encourage users to share thoughts aloud — both what’s working and what’s not. This helps uncover issues that may not be immediately visible and provides context for each barrier encountered.

Throughout testing, make sure different assistive technologies are being used. This will help you identify and fix compatibility issues that may otherwise exclude certain users.

5. Collect Feedback and Record Observations

Document both qualitative feedback (user impressions, pain points) and quantitative data (time on task, success rates). Use screenshots, screen recordings, and session notes to capture the full picture of usability and functionality challenges.

6. Iterative Testing and Feedback Loop

An important thing to remember about accessibility testing: it’s an ongoing process. After implementing fixes, conduct additional rounds of testing to verify improvements and identify new issues. Gathering this feedback enables you to create an open and ongoing dialogue with users, which can deepen your understanding of users’ needs. It also helps enhance accessibility across your digital offerings.

7. Analyze Results and Report Findings

Compile your observations into actionable insights. Highlight patterns, prioritize critical issues, and provide clear recommendations for developers and designers. Use visuals, charts, and real user quotes to make your report compelling and easy to act on.

8. Fix Issues and Retest

Next, have developers implement the recommended fixes, and then retest the content with users — especially assistive technology users. Iterative retesting ensures that solutions address real barriers without introducing new ones.

9. Provide Ongoing Accessibility Training

Finally, make accessibility a continuous effort. Offer accessibility training for designers, developers, and content creators around accessibility laws, accessible design, and the importance of accessibility. Embedding this knowledge across your team helps prevent future issues and fosters a long-term culture of accessibility.

What Disabilities and Assistive Technologies Should You Test For?

Effective accessibility user testing requires disability-inclusive testing, which means accounting for a variety of disabilities and the assistive technologies users rely on. Below are some of the disabilities you should consider throughout the testing process:

• Visual impairments: Users with visual disabilities may be partially sighted, completely blind or colorblind. Test for compatibility with screen readers (like JAWS, NVDA, or VoiceOver), screen magnifiers, and high-contrast modes. Ensure color is not the only means of conveying information and that all content is navigable via keyboard or alternative input methods. 

• Auditory impairments: Include users with auditory disabilities (such as deafness or hard of hearing) to verify that content is understandable without sound. This includes testing captioning, transcripts, and visual alerts for videos, audio content, and interactive elements. Ensuring clarity in text instructions and visual cues is also critical. 

• Motor impairments: Users with limited mobility or motor control may rely on alternative input devices such as switches, voice commands, or adaptive keyboards. Test for a smooth keyboard navigation, logical focus order, and appropriately sized interactive elements to accommodate all users. 

• Cognitive and neurological impairments: People with cognitive or neurological disabilities, such as dyslexia or aphasia, benefit from clear, simple layouts, consistent navigation, and predictable workflows. Test readability, content clarity, error recovery, and the ability to pause or slow down interactions. Include users who rely on assistive technologies like speech-to-text or text-to-speech tools.

Another thing to keep in mind: assistive technology compatibility. Testing across multiple assistive technologies ensures your product works seamlessly for all users. Combining disability-inclusive testing with assistive technology compatibility checks helps identify barriers that automated testing alone may miss. 

By considering this range of disabilities and technologies, you can uncover accessibility gaps, create more accessible digital content, and reinforce a commitment to accessibility for every user. 

Illustration of a webpage layout with a magnifying glass showing accessibility issues, indicated by red X marks on a checklist.

Common Mistakes in Accessibility User Testing and How to Avoid Them

For successful accessibility testing, it’s important to be aware of common mistakes in the testing process. These include considerations that span from a lack of planning or scheduling to only testing with one disability type or failing to gather user feedback. 

• Skipping content prioritization: Testing every page or feature at once can be overwhelming. Don’t fail to prioritize high-impact content first — start with the most visited pages, those with the highest legal risk, or content that requires the most amount of fixes. 

• Neglecting a clear testing schedule: Without a detailed plan outlining who tests what and when, progress can stall. Failing to assign responsibilities and communicate the schedule with stakeholders often leads to missed issues and inconsistent testing. 

• Not including a range of disabilities: Testing with only one type of user or disability misses critical barriers. Avoid limiting your testers, ensure people with visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive disabilities are included to uncover real-world challenges. 

• Ignoring or underutilizing user feedback: Collecting feedback is only valuable if it informs improvements. Failing to gather and act on tester feedback during each session can result in unresolved accessibility issues and missed opportunities for refinement. 

• Relying solely on automated testing: Automated tools are helpful, but they cannot detect nuanced or complex accessibility problems. Avoid depending only on automation; combine it with expert audits and real user input for comprehensive results. 

• Treating testing as a one-time event: Accessibility isn’t static. One-off testing fails to catch new issues or changes over time. Ensure ongoing testing and iterative improvement to maintain compliance and a positive user experience.

Tools and Resources for Accessibility User Testing

There’s a wide range of accessibility testing tools available — from automated scanners to manual testing tools and simulators. When choosing the right ones, consider the size of your project, the types of disabilities you need to accommodate, and your team’s experience level. Many organizations find that using an accessibility platform combining multiple tools and resources offers a more complete testing strategy.

For example, AudioEye provides a unified platform that supports every stage of the accessibility testing process. It starts with an automated Web Accessibility Checker that identifies more than 30 WCAG violations — more than any other tool on the market — and applies automatic fixes where possible. From there, AudioEye’s experts and members of the disability community further test your content for more complex issues, ensuring a thorough review. With built-in Developer Tools for ongoing testing and AudioEye Learning for free, self-paced accessibility education, teams can continue improving accessibility long after the first scan.

The result is a streamlined, scalable process that helps organizations achieve — and maintain — accessibility compliance with confidence.

How AudioEye Helps You Turn Testing Into Lasting Accessibility

Accessibility user testing gives people with disabilities the opportunity to directly evaluate your digital content and share meaningful feedback. It’s one of the most effective ways to uncover real-world accessibility issues — and to make sure every user can interact with your content with confidence and ease.

With AudioEye, you don’t just test for accessibility — you build a long-term strategy for digital accessibility. Our Accessibility Platform provides a comprehensive approach to managing the testing process across your digital properties. From our powerful automation capabilities to our Expert Audits, AudioEye helps you find and fix more accessibility issues while ensuring compliance with WCAG and ADA standards. 

Take the first step towards improving digital accessibility. Scan your digital content with our Web Accessibility Checker. Or schedule a demo to see how our tools streamline and simplify accessibility testing processes.