Earning routes
SHAPE: paid co-design and testing
SHAPE pays disabled people and people with lived experience to test the places, services and systems everyone uses, find the barriers in them and try the changes that remove them. Organisations commission SHAPE so those barriers are found and fixed early.
How a SHAPE assignment works
Every assignment follows the same four steps. People are paid for this work, and what they find changes what gets built.
Step 1: Barrier identified
A person with lived experience finds where a place, service or system fails them.
Step 2: Change tested
A change that removes the barrier is tried with the people it affects.
Step 3: Evidence recorded
What happened is written down, including what the change cost and whether it worked.
Step 4: Change adopted where it works
The organisation keeps the change where the test shows it works.
What SHAPE can test
Eight areas, each with examples of an assignment and what a review might look at. An assignment can cover one area or several.
Workplaces
How a workplace works for a disabled employee day to day: getting in, moving around, the equipment, the routines and the adjustments.
Examples
- Testing whether a new office layout, kitchen and toilets can be used by a wheelchair user before a team moves in.
- Trying a quiet room and flexible break times with the people who would use them, and recording what helped.
What a review might look at
- Routes into and around the building
- Desks, equipment and shared facilities
- How adjustments are asked for and put in place
Recruitment
Every step a candidate goes through, from the job advert to the first day at work.
Examples
- Reading a job advert and application form with people who use screen readers or find long forms hard.
- Taking part in a practice interview to test how adjustments are offered and whether the format works.
What a review might look at
- Job adverts and the words they use
- Application forms and online tests
- How interviews and adjustments are arranged
Websites
Whether people can find information and finish tasks on a website, using the devices and settings they use every day.
Examples
- Booking an appointment using a screen reader, a keyboard only, or larger text.
- Filling in a sign-up or checkout form to see whether its error messages say what to fix.
What a review might look at
- Navigation and page structure
- Forms, buttons and error messages
- Text size, colour contrast and plain language
Technology
Apps, devices and software, tried by the people who will use them before they are rolled out.
Examples
- Trying a new staff app or self-service screen with people who use switch access or voice control.
- Testing a payment terminal or ticket machine from a seated position and with one hand.
What a review might look at
- Whether it works with the assistive technology people already use
- Set-up, sign-in and instructions
- What happens when something goes wrong
Services
How people are helped: in person, by phone, online or by letter.
Examples
- Asking a service for help by phone, by email and in person, and comparing what each route offers.
- Checking how a service explains who can use it and what happens next.
What a review might look at
- How people contact the service
- Whether staff offer and record adjustments
- How decisions and next steps are explained
Physical environments
Buildings, shops, venues and outdoor spaces: getting there, getting in and using what is inside.
Examples
- Walking the route from the car park or bus stop to the front desk with people with different mobility needs.
- Checking the signs, lighting, noise and seating in a waiting area.
What a review might look at
- Entrances, ramps, lifts and doors
- Signs, lighting and noise
- Toilets, seating and places to rest
Communications
Letters, emails, leaflets, videos and social media posts: whether people can get them, read them and act on them.
Examples
- Reading a standard letter with people who use easy read, large print or a screen reader.
- Watching a video with captions to check it makes sense without sound.
What a review might look at
- Plain language and layout
- The formats offered, such as large print, easy read and captions
- Whether the next step is clear
Customer journeys
The whole route through a service, from first hearing about it to getting what was needed, including the hand-offs between teams and channels.
Examples
- Following one person from an online advert to a visit in person and a follow-up call, noting each barrier.
- Finding the point where people give up on a process and testing a change at that point.
What a review might look at
- Where people get stuck or give up
- Hand-offs between online, phone and in person
- Whether people have to repeat themselves
What to expect
What a SHAPE review gives you
- Evidence from people with lived experience who use the thing being tested.
- A record of the barriers found, the changes tried, what they cost and whether they worked.
- The scope, who takes part and how findings are shared, agreed with you before work starts.
What it is not
A SHAPE review is not a certificate, a legal compliance audit or a guarantee of a result. Where you need a technical audit against an accessibility standard, it sits alongside SHAPE testing.
Young people on NEET to OPPORTUNITY’s SHAPE pathway can take part in paid co-design where it is arranged. Read how the SHAPE route works.
Commission SHAPE or be paid to test
Organisations: tell us what you want tested and we will agree the scope with you. People with lived experience: register your interest and say that SHAPE interests you.