It Just Takes More Time: Designing Accessible Evaluations

Unless disability topics are the target research question, methodological approaches and evaluation practices often overlook considering whether participation is accessible to people with disabilities. Furthermore, from a universal design perspective, the process of ensuring evaluation participation is accessible for people with disabilities can in turn enhance useability for all participants. This presentation centers around the adaptation process of an evaluation of a health education curriculum to showcase lessons learned and practical recommendations for other evaluations. This includes navigating IRB submissions when including disabled populations, capacity to consent processes, altering materials to be accessible, and training considerations to support participants while respecting participant autonomy. The current project elicited feedback from people with lived experience of disability throughout the process and results from qualitative interviews with participants about their experience will be shared.