Inclusive AI starts with lived experience
The lived experience of people with disability should help shape how AI is designed, introduced and used.
An organisation introduces an AI chatbot to make customer service easier. An employer considers a tool to help assess job applications. A team starts using AI to summarise documents and prepare meeting notes.
Each decision has implications for accessibility. How will customers explain what they need? Can candidates request an adjustment? Does a workplace policy recognise that someone may use AI to make information easier to process?
Inclusive AI starts with bringing lived experience into these decisions. People with disability can contribute knowledge of how technology works in everyday life, where barriers arise and which features support participation. That knowledge can help organisations make better choices about what they introduce and how it will work.
Start with how people will use it
A demonstration can show what an AI tool is capable of. Understanding its value requires looking at how people will use it within a service or workplace.
Consider a customer service chatbot. An organisation might assess how quickly it answers common questions. Lived experience consultation can broaden that assessment to include whether people can understand the response, rephrase a request or reach a staff member without repeating the whole conversation.
For recruitment, the focus might include how candidates receive instructions, complete an assessment and request adjustments. In a workplace, it could include whether an AI-generated summary makes information clearer and how employees check it against the original.
These are useful considerations while an organisation is still defining its requirements. They help teams assess a tool against the people and tasks it needs to support.
People with disability bring varied experiences, alongside professional and technical expertise. Involving a range of people helps organisations understand different ways of communicating, processing information and using technology.
People are already using AI to navigate barriers
For some people with disability, AI is already a practical tool for work, study and everyday communication.
People with Disability Australia (PWDA) describes how some neurodivergent people use AI to summarise long documents, explain complex information, support writing and manage time. It also highlights how restrictions in workplaces and classrooms can overlook people who use these tools to participate on an equal basis.
That is an important consideration for organisations writing AI policies. Before deciding which uses are acceptable, understand how people are using the tools and what barriers they help address.
An employee might use AI to turn a lengthy document into a clearer starting point, or to organise their thoughts before writing an email. Understanding that use gives an organisation a better basis for deciding which tools, safeguards and support are appropriate.
Privacy, security and accuracy still need attention. Consultation helps organisations consider those requirements alongside accessibility, with a clearer understanding of what their decisions mean for employees.
An accessible tool needs an accessible service around it
Even a useful AI feature can be difficult to access if the surrounding process creates barriers.
Someone may need to register an account, navigate a form, understand instructions and pay for a subscription before they can use it. They may be using a screen reader, relying on mobile internet or working with a limited data allowance.
The 2025 Australian Digital Inclusion Index found that people with disability scored 11.4 points lower than people without disability on digital inclusion, reflecting barriers relating to access, cost and skills. It also found that 14.3% of people with disability relied solely on mobile internet access.
For organisations, this means reviewing the complete experience. Can someone use the service on their phone? Are instructions clear? Does it work with assistive technology? Is support available through a channel they can use?
The same attention is needed when something goes wrong. An incorrect response or an unsuccessful interaction should lead to an accessible way to get help. People need to understand what they can do next and reach someone who can resolve the issue.
Give lived experience a role in the decisions
Consultation is most useful when it can influence the outcome.
Bringing people in after a supplier has been selected or a process has been finalised can limit what an organisation can change. Earlier involvement allows lived experience to inform the brief, purchasing criteria and design.
It can also reveal useful applications that a team has not considered. Accessibility has contributed to developments such as voice control and autocomplete, with benefits extending beyond their original uses. The World Wide Web Consortium’s accessibility business case documents examples of that contribution.
For an organisation introducing AI, the practical task is to turn consultation into decisions. What needs to change in the brief? Which questions should a supplier answer? What needs further testing? How will people know their feedback has been used?
That process should continue after introduction. As a tool changes and people find new ways to use it, organisations need ways to gather feedback and respond.
Add accessibility into the project brief
Organisations can start with a few practical actions:
- Understand the task: Involve people with disability in identifying what the tool needs to help people do and the barriers it should address.
- Make accessibility part of supplier selection: Ask for evidence of accessibility, lived experience involvement and testing with assistive technology.
- Review the complete experience: Include registration, instructions, interactions, outputs and access to support.
- Consider existing uses: When developing workplace policies, understand where AI already supports communication, learning or participation.
- Plan for errors: Explain AI’s role and provide an accessible route to a person who can review a problem.
- Act on feedback: Assign responsibility for addressing barriers and tell participants how their input has influenced the work.
These actions give accessibility a place in the decisions teams are already making about technology, customer experience and work.
How GSA can help
At Get Skilled Access, lived experience informs how we identify barriers and work with organisations to address them.
That approach is relevant wherever AI becomes part of recruitment, customer service, learning or digital experiences. The support an organisation needs will depend on what it is changing.
User experience workshops can help teams understand how people navigate a service and turn that insight into practical requirements. Digital accessibility reviews can identify barriers in websites, applications and interfaces. Inclusive recruitment advice can help employers consider candidate experiences and adjustments, while training can build teams’ confidence to apply accessibility and inclusion in their work.
Our articles on ethical AI and disability employment and AI for disability inclusion explore related considerations.
The value of lived experience is in what organisations learn and do with it. Bringing that knowledge into a project early can help teams ask better questions, set clearer requirements and introduce services that more people can use.
If your organisation is introducing AI, contact GSA to discuss how accessibility and lived experience can inform your next steps.
Have questions? We’re ready to help
Get in touch now
I understand that my data will be hold securely in accordance with the Privacy Policy