Recruit across D/disability and intersectional identity

Quick Actions

Broaden recruitment criteria beyond traditional technical expertise to value lived experiences of D/disability, community knowledge, and accessibility advocacy.
Engage participants through community organizations, community leaders, and advocacy groups.
Don’t limit recruitment to the same people or groups who already participate in standard work. Relying on existing committees, industry contacts, or repeat contributors, misses out on new perspectives and contributes to consultation fatigue.
Seek participants from rural, underrepresented, younger, older, newcomer, and non-traditional groups.

Be proactive - build long-term relationships with communities historically excluded from standard work.
Focus on recruiting people who are underrepresented in your field including D/deaf and D/disabled people. One strategy is to regularly ask “Who else are we missing?”

Australia – Standards Australia Standards Australia collaborates with community groups to identify participants, uses accessible recruitment materials (Plain English, Auslan, multilingual), and offers digital tools with assistive features. Honorariums are provided to support participation from equity-seeking groups.
South Africa – South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) SABS engages youth and people in rural areas through its “Youth in Standards” initiative. By partnering with inclusive schools and universities, and encouraging community nominations, they bring in fresh, diverse voices particularly young D/disabled people from underserved backgrounds.
New Zealand – Standards New Zealand (SNZ) SNZ integrates Māori principles and works with Indigenous and D/disability communities to co-design recruitment processes. They engage elders and community leaders to identify participants and focus on relationship-building rather than short-term outreach, resulting in sustained Indigenous and D/disabled representation.

Even when an organization wants more diverse participation, it may not know how to recruit in an inclusive way.

Important questions to ask:

Are you always reaching out to the same people or groups?
Do you mostly recruit through personal or professional contacts, which can leave others out?
Are your outreach methods accessible and offered in different formats?
Are you reaching the communities you actually want to include?
Do you have the time and resources to build trust with underrepresented communities?
Are your recruitment steps and requirements inclusive, or do they accidentally exclude people?