Research services
Research services at Tilting the Lens are grounded in lived experience, guided by intersectional principles and designed to create meaningful, measurable system change. We centre disabled voices throughout the process, not just to inform inclusive solutions, but to co-create with them.
Why does research matter?
We do research because the data does not exist.
This community, customer-base, and market has been deeply under-served, and we need a new baseline.
At Tilting the Lens we understand that lived experience can unlock new insights that can transform systems and bring about innovation. We don’t know what we don’t know, and we must start by convening community, asking questions, and listening deeply.
The research process and findings can challenge expectations, unlock solutions, and improve systems. We engage in qualitative, quantitative, and market research across all of our work areas – people and workplace culture, built environment, and product and service design.
Our research deliberately centres the diversity and intersectionality within disability and identity. Disability can be permanent, intermittent, or temporary depending on the individual and many external factors. No two disabled people are alike in what they need, in how they experience systems, and those needs can change day-to-day for internal or external reasons.
By involving the community at the research stage, we can expand customer sentiment and trust, and create inclusive, functional, and meaningful solutions that address challenges faced by disabled customers, creating value and use across entire markets. Too often, solutions exist in the minds of people who are never consulted, considered or listened to.
What is a research project?
- Publishing disabled customer profiles to support development and product teams to implement accessibility into daily workflows.
- Creating a playground that is specifically designed to support disabled parents.
- Enhancing banking accessibility in digital infrastructure (web, app) by uncovering disabled customers’ unmet needs, barriers and solutions.
- Setting new benchmarks in real estate by convening disabled employees to create more accessible office environments.
- Increasing effectiveness of reasonable adjustment processes by understanding and implementing the solutions of disabled employees.
Our methodology for research
We commit to non-oppressive and intersectional research practices in all of our work. We understand that research can replicate power imbalances and be extractionary by nature, so we take deliberate steps to ensure our research is paid, respectful, and community-led. Participants are not treated as subjects, but as collaborators and experts in their own experiences.
1. Non-oppressive and intersectional by design
We recognise that identity is not singular. Disability intersects with race, ethnicity, gender, class, age, and many more factors that create lived experience. We actively seek out and include voices across these intersections – especially those often overlooked in mainstream research. Our research processes are built to honour participants’ dignity, agency, and knowledge.
We are committed to doing no harm. Disability Justice is a social justice framework that recognises the many intersecting factors that an individual can experience. Inclusion of those who are multiply-marginalised must be a key consideration in our research and solutions. Achieving social and economic justice for everyone requires collaboration and alliance.
2. Accessibility by default
We prioritise creating psychologically safe research environments, whether in-person or virtual. Building trust with participants is foundational. We communicate clearly and check in often.
All access accommodations are planned in advance, in collaboration with participants. This can include (but is not limited to): sign language interpretation, alternative formats, access to personal assistants, questions in advance of interviews, time-of-day flexibility, and sensory considerations.
3. Feedback and fees
An important part of the research process, and necessary for collaboration and co-design processes, is providing quality feedback to stakeholders and participants as well as getting feedback on their experience and needs. Participants are offered multiple opportunities to ask questions, share feedback, and shape the process. We also share findings back with participants and the wider community whenever possible – ensuring transparency and accountability. This feedback loop strengthens trust and helps turn research insights into action.
Paying participants for their time and expertise is non-negotiable in our work. We include fair and equitable compensation for all participants in every research budget. We are upfront and transparent about how and when people will be paid, and we ensure that compensation is appropriate to the time, input, and expertise shared.
4. Stakeholder engagement
We bring together insights from multiple sources (qualitative, quantitative, internal, external) to build a full picture for stakeholders. We don’t just collect information. We translate our findings into actionable roadmaps and priorities that align to the organisation and broader strategic goals.
We can support your team through the co-design process, implementation of new policies, and wider training for leadership and teams.
Our research database
We have created a global database of disabled people who are experts in their own lived experience. This allows us to carry out more research efficiently and effectively.
This database isn’t just a research tool. It is part of a broader eco-system that enables deeper insights, collaborative design, and purpose-driven innovation. We can drive real change, while also opening up economic and creative opportunities for disabled people around the world.
Research format examples
- Conducting global surveys: With our extensive research network, we can tap into groups across disability types, countries, genders, ages and ethnicities to gather a wide range of perspectives depending on what the research requires. Keeping intersectionality key throughout.
- Hosting focus groups with disabled people: We can bring together smaller groups of people to deep-dive on some of the insights we have learned through surveys or other methods. This more intimate setting, allows us to ask follow-up questions and dig deeper to unlock further insights.
- Expert interviews: We also organise one-on-one conversations with subject matter experts – including accessibility specialists, activists, or industry leaders. This can help provide expertise, market insights, and broader understanding of the system challenges.
- Market research: We can explore gaps in current offerings and highlight opportunities for inclusive innovation. Whether it’s rethinking a product line, service model, or communication strategy, market research helps businesses better understand where and how to design with disabled people in mind – and, by extension, benefit wider audiences.
- Observational studies: Often a critical part of the co-design process; observing and documenting real-life experiences to understand how disabled people interact with systems, services, or products in everyday life. We have done this for clients during the research to create adaptive clothing and packaging. These insights can inform everything from policy to design.
- Customer profiles: Customer profiles are both a research tool and a deliverable. They help us map out who we’re designing for – capturing the real needs, goals, and lived experiences of disabled people across different contexts. These profiles are rooted in qualitative insights, not assumptions, and are shaped by direct input from our participants. As an outcome, they become powerful storytelling tools, helping clients move beyond abstract data. Whether used to inform design, strategy, or policy, our customer profiles ground decisions in empathy, context, and evidence.
Research project case studies
Discover more about some of the research projects we have worked on.