Kate Kalcevich Jun 10, 2026 0 comments The Benefits Of Cognitive Inclusion In UX Research 16 min read UX , User Research , Design Share on Twitter , LinkedIn About The Author Kate Kalcevich has over 20 years of experience turning accessibility into a driver of innovation and growth. As VP of Innovation at Fable, she oversees a … More about Kate ↬ Email Newsletter Your (smashing) email Weekly tips on front-end & UX . Trusted by 182,000+ folks. Register for Free How To Measure UX and Design Impact, 8h video + UX training How To Measure UX and Design Impact, 8h video + UX training Celebrating 10 million developers Advertise on Smashing Magazine The Modern UX Practitioner with Paul Boag Custom Web Forms for Angular, React, & Vue. Your backend. Findings from an exploratory user research study highlighting the unique insights and practical UX recommendations shared by participants with cognitive disabilities. In the summer of 2024, I became co-chair of a working group of expert researchers who came together to determine how best to perform accessibility testing with people with cognitive disabilities. This was work I did for Fable, where I am currently VP of Innovation. Cognitive disability is an umbrella term for several disabilities that impact how people process information, and it usually affects memory, focus, and/or learning. It is the most prevalent disability in the U.S. (13.9% via CDC ), and cognitive disability is increasing rapidly ( Yale study ). We set four goals for ourselves to learn how to work with this audience: How should we recruit and screen participants? What are best practices for research with cognitive participants? Do these methods work in a real study? Documenting what we learned so that we could share it. We created a screener to recruit people who self-identified as having challenges with memory, focus, and learning. We also reviewed published studies that involved cognitive testers to learn best practices for working with them. Nex
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