info@directaccess.group
UK: +44 1270 626222
Ireland: +353 (0)15079081
Ireland: +353 (0)15079081
Direct Access helps organisations make better decisions about the products, services, environments, and policies they put into the world. We do that by running structured user research with disabled and neurodivergent people, and by advising design, product, and policy teams on what the findings mean for the choices in front of them.
The combination is unusual. Most UX firms can recruit disabled and neurodivergent participants but can’t design research to accessibility standards. Most accessibility consultancies can engage disabled and neurodivergent communities, but don’t run research to a senior research standard. We do both. That’s why we end up working with clients who can’t afford to get it wrong: government departments, infrastructure operators, capital project teams, and service designers at scale.
Usually when a decision in front of them will affect how people use something for a long time. New buildings, major refurbishments, service redesigns, new digital products, infrastructure rollouts, policy reviews. The cost of getting accessibility wrong at design stage is much higher than the cost of testing it properly first, and that gap is where we earn our fee.
What clients get from working with us:
ZEVI commissioned Direct Access to assess accessibility across Ireland’s national EV charging infrastructure as part of the Irish government’s transport decarbonisation programme. The brief required us to identify usability barriers across the live estate, test interaction patterns with disabled and neurodivergent drivers, and produce findings robust enough to inform a revision of national design standards.
Our research combined structured user testing at charging stations, expert accessibility evaluation of the wider rollout, and synthesis of cross-cohort findings against universal design principles. The output fed directly into the revised national Universal Design Guidelines for Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure.
The updated guidelines materially expand the user base the network can serve. Disabled drivers, older users, and anyone whose needs fell outside the original design assumptions are now accounted for at standard level, rather than dependent on case-by-case retrofit.
What we cover
We can come in at whatever stage you need us. Early discovery work to understand what’s actually happening for your users. Concept and prototype testing before you commit to a direction. Evaluation of live products, services, or environments to find out what’s working and what isn’t. Validation research to check whether what got built actually delivers what the design promised.
All research is designed and overseen against recognised UK, European, and international accessibility frameworks, including the Equality Act 2010, BS 8300, PAS 6463:2022, EN 17210, EN 301 549, the European Accessibility Act, and WCAG.
What you get back
Findings translated into something usable: prioritised recommendations, design implications, and clear guidance for the product owners, designers, project leads, and policy authors who actually have to act on them. We separate what needs doing now, what should shape decisions coming up, and what’s worth keeping in view for the longer term, so the document helps you plan rather than just listing problems.
Our consultants bring research and accessibility expertise alongside lived experience of disability. The expertise does the foundational work; the lived experience makes sure nothing important gets missed.
Sector Reach
Two decades. Multiple jurisdictions. Hundreds of engagements.
Sectors: retail, hospitality, social housing, transport, healthcare, government, education, infrastructure, cultural and heritage, public realm, digital products and services.
Recent clients: ZEVI, Sweaty Betty, Starbucks, Clarion. Plus public sector estates, NHS bodies, transport operators, and national programmes.
Engagement types: discovery, user testing, evaluative and validation studies, accessibility consultation, embedded research partnerships.
Scale: single-site through organisational, regional, and national.
Research as a long-term capability
The clients who get the most from this work build it into how they make decisions, rather than commissioning it once and shelving the report. We run individual research engagements and longer programmes designed to build inclusive design into your team’s regular practice, so you stop paying us to identify the same issues every time and start using the research to move the work forward.