{"id":1717,"date":"2026-11-03T19:44:30","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T19:44:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deque.com\/axe-con\/?post_type=axecon-session&p=1717"},"modified":"2026-11-10T19:30:55","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T19:30:55","slug":"humans-in-the-loop-why-real-people-still-matter-in-ux-research","status":"publish","type":"axecon-session","link":"https:\/\/www.deque.com\/axe-con\/sessions\/humans-in-the-loop-why-real-people-still-matter-in-ux-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Humans in the Loop: Why real people still matter in UX research"},"content":{"rendered":"

UX research has too often been reduced to validating a team\u2019s assumptions and identifying trivial tweaks. Its true purpose is to bring lived experience into the design process and uncover the questions teams never thought to ask, an especially critical role for disabled users whose perspectives are too often overlooked or misrepresented. Through real-world research examples, discover how authentic insights from disabled people can challenge assumptions and reveal critical design considerations at every stage of the product lifecycle. Because building better technology takes more than human-like responses from an AI tool, it takes real humans in the loop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","track":[27],"difficulty":[28],"playlist":[],"class_list":["post-1717","axecon-session","type-axecon-session","status-publish","hentry","track-accessible-design","difficulty-intro"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHumans in the Loop: Why real people still matter in UX research - Axe-con<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.deque.com\/axe-con\/sessions\/humans-in-the-loop-why-real-people-still-matter-in-ux-research\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Humans in the Loop: Why real people still matter in UX research - Axe-con\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UX research has too often been reduced to validating a team\u2019s assumptions and identifying trivial tweaks. Its true purpose is to bring lived experience into the design process and uncover the questions teams never thought to ask, an especially critical role for disabled users whose perspectives are too often overlooked or misrepresented. Through real-world research […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.deque.com\/axe-con\/sessions\/humans-in-the-loop-why-real-people-still-matter-in-ux-research\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Axe-con\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-11-10T19:30:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.deque.com\/axe-con\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Axe-con-2027-banner.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"936\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"402\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.deque.com\\\/axe-con\\\/sessions\\\/humans-in-the-loop-why-real-people-still-matter-in-ux-research\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.deque.com\\\/axe-con\\\/sessions\\\/humans-in-the-loop-why-real-people-still-matter-in-ux-research\\\/\",\"name\":\"Humans in the Loop: Why real people still matter in UX research - Axe-con\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.deque.com\\\/axe-con\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-11-03T19:44:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-11-10T19:30:55+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.deque.com\\\/axe-con\\\/sessions\\\/humans-in-the-loop-why-real-people-still-matter-in-ux-research\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.deque.com\\\/axe-con\\\/sessions\\\/humans-in-the-loop-why-real-people-still-matter-in-ux-research\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.deque.com\\\/axe-con\\\/sessions\\\/humans-in-the-loop-why-real-people-still-matter-in-ux-research\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.deque.com\\\/axe-con\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Agenda\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.deque.com\\\/axe-con\\\/agenda\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Humans in the Loop: Why real people still matter in UX research\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.deque.com\\\/axe-con\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.deque.com\\\/axe-con\\\/\",\"name\":\"Axe-con\",\"description\":\"Where the global digital accessibility community comes together.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.deque.com\\\/axe-con\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.deque.com\\\/axe-con\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.deque.com\\\/axe-con\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Axe-con\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.deque.com\\\/axe-con\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.deque.com\\\/axe-con\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.deque.com\\\/axe-con\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Axe-con-Logo.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.deque.com\\\/axe-con\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Axe-con-Logo.svg\",\"caption\":\"Axe-con\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.deque.com\\\/axe-con\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Humans in the Loop: Why real people still matter in UX research - Axe-con","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.deque.com\/axe-con\/sessions\/humans-in-the-loop-why-real-people-still-matter-in-ux-research\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Humans in the Loop: Why real people still matter in UX research - Axe-con","og_description":"UX research has too often been reduced to validating a team\u2019s assumptions and identifying trivial tweaks. 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