The AURC Membership

Accessibility starts with your voice

By joining the The Accessibility User Research Collective (The AURC), you will shape technology and products that millions of people use every day. Your lived experience matters and companies are listening.

Why join the AURC?

As an AURC member, you will:

  • Participate in paid research studies like usability interviews, focus groups, and product testing.
  • Influence the design of future technology and consumer products for a more inclusive world.
  • Enjoy privacy and data security backed by IRB (Institutional Review Board) oversight and annual reviews.

What to expect

  • We’ll match you with studies that fit your experience and interests.
  • You will share feedback that helps leading brands improve accessibility.
  • You will receive compensation for your time and expertise.

How to get started

  1. Join the AURC: Complete our membership form. You must be an adult with a disability and reside in the United States.
  2. Explore our open studies: Browse our study directory to find opportunities that match your interests. Review the details and eligibility criteria of each study.
  3. Show your interest: Fill out the open study request form at the bottom of the study page to let us know you’d like to participate.

I very much enjoyed exploring new technology and sharing thoughts about it in community. Thank you for the opportunity to work with the AURC team and your partners.

Partipant of the AURC with Vision Impairment

FAQs

The AURC is a network of people with disabilities within the United States of America who participate in user research (usability studies, focus groups, telephone/interview feedback) on consumer-based products and services.

The AURC is a research partnership between Shepherd Center and Fortune 500 companies, like Microsoft, McDonald’s, LinkedIn, Samsung, and many others. People with disabilities who are interested in giving their user feedback for product development and accessibility join the collective by completing a membership form about their disability and accessibility needs. The AURC then uses this form to recruit participants for specific user research.

The purpose of the AURC is to match participants with research studies so they can conduct accessibility and usability testing of technology and to investigate current uses, experiences, and attitudes toward specific technologies or services by people with all types of disabilities. This research can include:

  • Product testing and interviews
  • Focus groups
  • Survey research

The purpose of the research is to provide consumer feedback to product teams working on consumer technologies to make them accessible and usable by people with disabilities.

Fill out our membership Form, email us at [email protected], or call us at 404-350-7667. You will be asked to fill out a short survey with details about your demographics and the current technology you use, or don’t use. We use the survey data to select the AURC members for specific projects.

Yes, all the information entered into our database will remain confidential. Only Shepherd Center staff associated with a particular research study you are involved in will have access to the information you submitted to the AURC database. For more information, please refer to the Shepherd Center’s Privacy Policy.

We do not pay a stipend to complete the AURC membership form.

Absolutely! Members can review, update, or delete their record entirely from the AURC database at any time and without reason. If you would like to review, update, or delete your record, please email [email protected] or call us at 404-350-7667. We will amend your profile information as requested from the AURC database.

Yes, you can withdraw at any time and for any reason. You will still be paid.

Yes, Shepherd Center staff will electronically send you Informed Consent Forms (ICF) via an online form. The consent forms outline the research project, your rights as a participant, the process for withdrawing from the study, and provide relevant contact information.

It depends. As members, you may be reviewing products that are not yet available on the market, and as such, you may need to sign an NDA. Shepherd Center staff will electronically send an NDA to you ahead of any research study you are selected for if it’s required.