Proxy stakeholder

In requirements engineering and participatory design, a proxy stakeholder is a person—such as a caregiver, support worker, family member, or healthcare professional—who actively mediates, interprets, and scaffolds technology use on behalf of a primary user who faces barriers to direct participation. Unlike an indirect stakeholder who is merely affected by a system, proxy stakeholders co-construct the user's technology experience in real time, making them essential sources of latent requirements that cannot be captured through conventional elicitation alone. Engaging proxy stakeholders is particularly important in accessibility contexts where users have cognitive, communication, or intellectual disabilities that limit their ability to articulate needs in research settings. A three-stage framework for proxy engagement involves identifying appropriate proxies by mapping the care ecosystem, using situated scenario-based prompts during interviews, and analytically tagging proxy-derived data by role to distinguish perspectives from proxies speaking for the user versus from their own professional standpoint.