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Good practice Imported

Be. Lab — Disability-Led Inclusive Design Consultancy Reshaping 'Accessible Aotearoa'

New Zealand · Auckland · See the New Zealand profile · See the Auckland profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 55% 72/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Founded in 2011 by disability advocate Minnie Baragwanath, New Zealand's Be. Lab (formerly Be. Accessible) trains businesses and government teams in inclusive digital and physical design, using disabled assessors and its Access 2020 survey to reveal accessibility gaps nationwide.

78 %
Disabled New Zealanders needing accessibility support (2020)
38 %
Named accessible websites/information as key enabler (2020)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Be. Lab (Be. Institute)
Period
2011–present
Keywords
disability inclusion, digital accessibility, consultancy, co-design

Context

Be. Lab began in 2011 as Be. Accessible, a social enterprise founded by disability advocate Minnie Baragwanath, auditing and coaching businesses and public agencies using assessors with lived experience of access needs.

Activities

In 2019 it rebranded as Be. Lab and formed a 'Centre of Possibility' research partnership with Auckland University of Technology, and now also offers digital accessibility assessments with Access Advisors.

Results

Its 2020 'Access 2020' survey found 78% of disabled New Zealanders needed some form of accessibility support to take part in public life, and 38% named accessible websites and information as a key enabler.

Conclusions

Evidence is largely descriptive and self-reported; no independently audited evaluation of client accessibility outcomes was found.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k)
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years)
Staffing & skills
disabled assessors, accessibility coaches

Conditions for success

  • co-design with disabled assessors
  • partnership with a public university (AUT)

Common failure modes

  • no independently audited outcome evaluation of client accessibility improvements

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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