Glossary

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Time Blindness(also: Diminished time awareness)

A reduced or unreliable awareness of the passage of time, commonly associated with ADHD and related executive-function differences. People experiencing time blindness may struggle to estimate how long tasks take, notice elapsed time during immersive activities, or plan backward…

Time Management

The ability to plan and control how time is allocated to specific activities. In the context of accessibility and assistive technology, time management support helps individuals with cognitive impairments organise and complete daily tasks by providing structured reminders,…

Tower of Hanoi(also: Tower of Hanoi Task, Tower Task)

The Tower of Hanoi is a classic cognitive assessment puzzle used in neuropsychology and educational research to measure multi-step planning and executive function abilities. The task requires moving a set of discs or objects from one position to another according to specific…

Training Wheels Interface(also: Training Wheels, Progressive Disclosure)

An interface design pattern that reduces complexity for novice users by hiding or disabling advanced features until they are needed, then gradually revealing them as the user gains competence. Named after the stabilizing wheels on children's bicycles, this approach prevents…

Trauma-Informed Care(also: TIC, Trauma-Informed Approach)

A framework originating in social work practice that asks organisations and service providers to recognise the widespread impact of trauma on the people they serve and to integrate that understanding into their policies, procedures, and interactions. Rather than directly…

Traumatic Brain Injury(also: TBI, Acquired Brain Injury, Head Injury)

An injury to the brain caused by an external bodily force, typically from road traffic accidents, falls, or other impacts. TBI severity is classified using the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS): mild (GCS 13-15), moderate (GCS 9-12), and severe (GCS 3-8), with additional factors…

Traumatic brain injury(also: TBI, Acquired brain injury)

An injury to the brain caused by an external force such as a blow, jolt, or penetrating object, resulting in temporary or permanent impairments to cognitive, physical, and psychosocial functioning. TBI can affect attention, memory, executive function, language processing, social…

Trouble-Indicating Behavior(also: TIB, Trouble Source-Repair)

Verbal or nonverbal behaviors that signal confusion, misunderstanding, or difficulty in communication. In research on dementia and human-robot interaction, TIBs are categorized into types including: requests for repetition, requests for clarification, metalinguistic comments ("I…

Tutoring System(also: Intelligent Tutoring System, ITS, Computer-Based Tutor)

Software that provides personalised instruction and feedback to learners, adapting its responses based on the learner's performance, knowledge level, and error patterns. In accessibility contexts, tutoring systems can be designed to support learners with disabilities by…

Understandability(also: Understandable, Comprehensibility)

The quality of information or interface elements being cognitively accessible — meaning a user can not only perceive the content but also internalise its meaning and know how to act on it. Understandability is one of the four principles of WCAG 2.0, requiring that information…

Universe of One(also: Universe-of-One, Personalized Prompting)

A design approach in assistive technology where content, prompts, and guidance are tailored to each individual user rather than providing generic or standardized instructions. The concept is particularly important for people with cognitive impairments, who often struggle with…

Useful Field of View(also: UFOV, Functional Visual Field)

The useful field of view (UFOV) is the area of the visual field from which a person can extract information in a single glance without moving their eyes or head. Unlike the anatomical visual field, the UFOV is a measure of functional vision that depends on cognitive processing…

Variable Ability(also: Fluctuating Ability, Dynamic Disability)

The characteristic of many chronic illnesses and disabilities where a person's functional abilities change significantly over time — across days, hours, or even minutes. Variable ability includes both baseline fluctuations (such as flares triggered by environmental factors or…

Video Prompting(also: Video-based prompting, Step-by-step video instruction)

An instructional technique that uses short video clips to show a person with a developmental or intellectual disability how to complete individual steps of a task, presented one step at a time. Unlike video modeling (which shows the entire task performed continuously), video…

Visual Attention(also: Attentional Allocation, Gaze Behaviour)

The cognitive process of selectively focusing on specific parts of the visual field while filtering out other information. Visual attention determines which elements in a scene or interface a person notices, how long they focus on them, and in what order. Research has shown that…

Visual Attention Span(also: VAS, Visual Attention Window)

The number of distinct visual elements that can be processed simultaneously in a single glance. Visual attention span is a cognitive capacity linked to reading ability — when reading, the eyes fixate on a word and the visual attention span determines how many letters can be…

Visual Clutter(also: Visual Noise, Visual Complexity)

An excess of visual elements in an environment or interface that makes it difficult to locate, identify, or focus on relevant information. Visual clutter is a significant barrier for people with cerebral visual impairment, simultanagnosia, and other visual processing conditions,…

Visual Context Switching(also: Visual Attention Switching, Gaze Switching)

The act of shifting visual focus between multiple sources of information, such as between a sign language interpreter and a presentation screen, or between captions and a speaker's face. For deaf and hard of hearing users, visual context switching is a significant accessibility…

Visual Data Exploration(also: VDE, data visualization exploration)

Visual data exploration is the interactive process of examining datasets through graphical representations such as charts, maps, and dashboards to discover patterns, trends, and anomalies. Accessibility considerations are critical because conventional visualizations rely…

Visual Distraction(also: Visual Clutter, Visual Noise)

Visual elements in an interface or content that draw attention away from the primary content or task, including animated advertisements, moving backgrounds, decorative overlays, notification badges, recommended content panels, and complex visual layouts. Visual distractions are…

Visual Perception(also: Visual Processing)

The brain's ability to interpret and organize visual information, including recognizing shapes, distinguishing between similar forms, perceiving spatial relationships, and processing symmetry. In accessibility contexts, differences in visual perception are relevant to dyslexia…

Visual Processing(also: Visual Processing Disorder, Visual Perception)

The brain's ability to interpret and make sense of visual information received through the eyes. Visual processing difficulties can affect reading, spatial awareness, figure-ground discrimination, and the ability to process complex visual layouts, even when visual acuity is…

Visual Prompts(also: Picture Prompts, Visual Cues, Photographic Cues)

Images, icons, photographs, or other visual representations used to guide, remind, or support individuals in completing tasks, following schedules, or navigating environments. Visual prompts are particularly important for people with cognitive disabilities, intellectual…

Visual Search Strategy(also: Scanning Strategy, Visual Scanning)

Systematic approaches to visually exploring an environment or scene to locate specific objects, patterns, or information. In low-vision rehabilitation, therapists train clients in efficient search strategies such as systematic scanning patterns (horizontal, vertical, spiral),…

Visual Skimming(also: Visual Scanning, Page Scanning)

The rapid visual process of scanning a page to quickly identify relevant content, key information, and areas of interest without reading every word. Sighted users can typically assess a webpage's relevance in about five seconds through visual skimming, guided by visual…

Visual-Spatial Processing(also: Visuospatial Processing, Visual-Spatial Cognition)

Visual-spatial processing is the cognitive ability to perceive, analyze, and mentally manipulate spatial relationships and visual information. It encompasses skills such as judging distances, understanding maps, recognizing shapes and patterns, and mentally rotating objects.…

Visualization Literacy(also: Data Visualization Literacy, Graphical Literacy, Graph Literacy)

The ability to read, interpret, and extract meaningful insights from visual data representations such as charts, graphs, maps, and infographics. Visualization literacy encompasses skills like identifying trends, making comparisons, understanding scales and axes, and critically…

Visuospatial Attention(also: Visual-Spatial Attention, Visuospatial Processing)

The cognitive ability to attend to, process, and mentally manipulate visual and spatial information in the environment. Visuospatial attention involves orienting to locations in space, tracking objects, and understanding spatial relationships between elements. Research has…

Wayfinding(also: Navigation, Orientation)

The process by which people orient themselves and navigate through physical or digital environments. Accessible wayfinding encompasses multiple modalities: visual signage with sufficient contrast and text size, tactile maps and guidance paths for blind users, audio announcements…

Weak Central Coherence(also: WCC, Central Coherence Theory)

A cognitive theory proposing that individuals with autism tend to process information in a detail-focused, piecemeal way rather than integrating it into a coherent whole. In the context of web accessibility, weak central coherence means autistic users may focus intensely on…

Web disorientation(also: Lost in hyperspace, Navigation disorientation)

The feeling of being lost or confused while navigating websites, characterized by difficulty knowing one's current location within a site, how to return to previously visited pages, or how to find desired information. Web disorientation is predicted by Internet confidence and…

Williams Syndrome(also: Williams-Beuren Syndrome, WBS)

A rare genetic condition caused by the deletion of approximately 26 genes on chromosome 7, characterized by cardiovascular problems, distinctive facial features, and a unique cognitive profile that typically includes intellectual disability alongside strong verbal and social…

Wizard Design Pattern(also: Wizard Interface, Step-by-step Interface, Guided Task Flow)

An interface design pattern that breaks complex tasks into a series of simple, sequential questions or steps. Rather than presenting all options simultaneously, a wizard guides users through one decision at a time, reducing cognitive load and the need for prior system knowledge.…

Word Frequency(also: Lexical Frequency)

A measure of how often a word occurs in a given language or text corpus. High-frequency words like common function words are encountered regularly and recognized quickly, while low-frequency words are rarer and require more cognitive effort to process. Word frequency…

Word Retrieval(also: Word Finding, Lexical Retrieval)

The cognitive process of accessing and selecting the correct word from memory to express an intended meaning during writing or speech. People with dyslexia frequently experience word retrieval difficulties, where they know the concept they want to express but cannot access the…

Word sense disambiguation(also: WSD)

A natural language processing task that determines which meaning of a word is being used in a given context when the word has multiple possible meanings (polysemy). In accessibility applications, particularly automatic text simplification, WSD is essential for lexical…

Word-Finding Difficulty(also: Anomia, Word Retrieval Difficulty, Tip-of-the-Tongue)

A common symptom of aphasia where a person knows what they want to say but cannot retrieve the correct word. Word-finding difficulties can range from occasional pauses to severe impairment where even common words become inaccessible. The experience is often described as having a…

Worker Assistance System(also: Digital Worker Assistance, Cognitive Assistance System)

Technology systems that support workers during the execution of work processes by providing interactive step-by-step instructions through text, images, videos, audio, and spatial hints. These systems are particularly valuable for workers with cognitive disabilities performing…

Working Memory

The cognitive system responsible for temporarily holding and manipulating information needed for complex tasks such as learning, reasoning, and comprehension. Working memory is a core executive function that is frequently impaired in ADHD, leading to difficulties with following…

Working memory(also: Short-term memory)

The cognitive system responsible for temporarily holding and manipulating information during complex tasks such as language comprehension, reasoning, and decision-making. Working memory has limited capacity, typically described as 7 plus or minus 2 items, and varies between…

Written Choice(also: Written Choice Technique)

A therapeutic communication technique used with individuals who have aphasia, in which a conversation partner asks a question and then provides anticipated written answers for the person to choose from. This scaffolded approach reduces the language production demands on the…