Glossary

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ADA Compliance(also: Americans with Disabilities Act Compliance)

Adherence to the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a 1990 US civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, transportation, telecommunications, and government services. ADA compliance…

ADA Transition Plan(also: ADA Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan, Accessibility Transition Plan)

A document required under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that outlines how a public entity will make its programs, services, activities, and facilities accessible to people with disabilities. The plan must include an inventory of accessibility barriers, a…

AI Recourse(also: Algorithmic Recourse, AI Appeal Mechanism)

The ability of individuals negatively affected by AI-driven decisions to challenge, appeal, or seek correction of those decisions. For people with disabilities, AI recourse is particularly critical because AI systems frequently make consequential decisions about welfare…

Ability Bias(also: Ability-Based Bias, Disability Bias)

A form of social bias encoded in artificial intelligence systems, particularly large language models, that reflects stereotypical or discriminatory assumptions about people with disabilities. Ability bias manifests through linguistic associations that link specific disabilities…

Access Labor(also: Accommodation Labor, Disability Labor)

The uncompensated work that disabled people must perform to secure, maintain, and manage their own accessibility accommodations within systems not designed for them. Access labor includes navigating bureaucratic accommodation processes, self-advocating with institutions and…

Access Needs(also: Accessibility Needs, Access Requirements)

The specific requirements a person has in order to access information, environments, services, or activities on an equal basis. Access needs vary by individual and context, and may relate to sensory, cognitive, physical, or communication requirements. The concept of access needs…

Accessibility Advocacy(also: Accessibility Activism, A11y Advocacy)

The practice of promoting, educating others about, and pushing for the adoption of accessible practices in digital and physical environments. In online spaces, accessibility advocacy often falls disproportionately on people with disabilities themselves, who must repeatedly…

Accessibility Paradox

The accessibility paradox describes the gap between organizations' stated commitments to accessibility and the lived realities of disabled employees, who often encounter inaccessible tools, documents, and workflows in their daily work despite formal inclusion policies. Coined in…

Accessibility Workaround(also: A11y Workaround, Assistive Workaround)

An alternative method, process, or tool that people with disabilities develop or adopt to accomplish tasks that are blocked by inaccessible design. Workarounds represent the hidden labor that disabled people must invest to navigate inaccessible systems — creating parallel…

Accessible Voting(also: Inclusive Voting, Accessible Elections)

Accessible voting refers to the design and implementation of voting systems, processes, and polling places that enable all eligible citizens — including those with disabilities — to cast their ballots independently and privately. Barriers to accessible voting include…

Accommodation(also: Reasonable Accommodation, Academic Accommodation, Disability Accommodation)

A modification, adjustment, or support provided to enable a person with a disability to participate equally in education, employment, or public services. In the United States, accommodations are mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the…

Administrative Burden(also: Bureaucratic Burden, Process Burden)

The cumulative effort, time, stress, and negative impacts that result from navigating administrative processes such as applying for benefits, gaining medical evidence, completing forms, and interacting with multiple organisations to achieve a particular goal. For disabled…

Affirmative Model of Disability(also: Affirmation Model)

A disability framework that goes beyond the social model by acknowledging disabled individuals's lived experiences and emphasizing their abilities, strengths, and unique perspectives rather than limitations. The affirmative model celebrates disability as a positive identity,…

Ageism(also: Age Discrimination, Age Bias)

Stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination against people based on their age, most commonly directed at older adults. Ageism manifests at individual, institutional, and societal levels through assumptions about cognitive decline, technology incompetence, resistance to change,…

Algorithmic Discrimination(also: AI Discrimination, Automated Discrimination)

The systematic disadvantaging of specific groups through the operation of AI-driven systems, whether intentional or emergent. For people with disabilities, algorithmic discrimination occurs across many domains: employment (AI hiring tools screening out disabled applicants),…

Algorithmic bias(also: AI bias, Machine learning bias, Algorithmic discrimination)

Systematic and unfair errors in the outputs of automated decision-making systems that disadvantage particular groups of people. For people with disabilities, algorithmic bias arises from underrepresentation in training datasets, historical discrimination encoded in data, and…

Americans with Disabilities Act(also: ADA, ADA 1990)

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is landmark US civil rights legislation enacted in 1990 that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including employment, education, transportation, and public accommodations. Title II…

Assistive use exception(also: Assistive use legal exception, Assistive purpose exception)

A proposed legal framework that would permit the use of always-on sensing technologies (such as wearable cameras or microphones) for assistive purposes in contexts where recording is otherwise prohibited, analogous to how service animals are allowed in no-pet spaces under the…

Autism Self-Advocacy(also: Autistic Self-Advocacy, Autism Rights Movement)

A movement led by autistic individuals who advocate for their own rights, autonomy, and inclusion in decisions that affect their lives. Autism self-advocacy challenges the dominance of non-autistic parents, professionals, and researchers in speaking for and making decisions…

Autistic Agency(also: Autistic Self-Determination, Autistic Autonomy)

The capacity of autistic individuals to make choices, express preferences, direct their own lives, and participate meaningfully in decisions that affect them. Research on autistic agency in technology contexts has found that autistic children and adults are often positioned as…

Bodily Autonomy

The right of individuals to make decisions about their own bodies, including how they use their bodies for work, what medical treatments they receive, and how they manage their physical and mental health. In disability contexts, bodily autonomy is frequently compromised through…

Broadening Participation in Computing(also: BPC)

A term of art, promoted heavily by the U.S. National Science Foundation and professional societies such as ACM, referring to concerted efforts to increase the participation of groups that are historically underrepresented in computing — including women, people of color, people…

Chrononormativity(also: Temporal Normativity)

The way institutions impose normative temporal expectations—standardized timelines, schedules, and paces of development—that shape how bodies and lives are organized and evaluated. In assistive technology contexts, chrononormativity manifests through rigid institutional clocks…

Civic Participation(also: Civic Engagement)

Civic participation encompasses the activities through which individuals engage in the democratic process and public life, including voting, attending public meetings, contacting elected officials, and serving on boards or committees. For people with disabilities, barriers to…

Community Based Participatory Research(also: CBPR, Participatory Action Research)

A research methodology that creates equitable partnerships between researchers and community members throughout the entire research process, from defining research questions to disseminating findings. CBPR aims to reduce health and social disparities by ensuring that the people…

Compromised Agency

A concept from science and technology studies describing situations where an individual's capacity to make meaningful choices is structurally constrained by systemic forces beyond their control, even as they retain some degree of decision-making power. In assistive technology…

Conversational Agency(also: Communicative Agency)

An individual's capacity to express themselves and achieve their communicative goals within a conversation. Conversational agency encompasses not just the ability to transmit messages but also the ability to shape conversation flow, express personality, negotiate meaning, and…

Crip Time

A concept from disability studies and culture that recognizes disabled people often operate on different timescales than those imposed by ableist societal norms. Crip time encompasses the need for more time to complete tasks, the recognition that productivity fluctuates based on…

Cripping(also: Crip practices)

Practices or actions taken by disabled people to disrupt the status quo, flip ableist norms, and work toward a more accessible and just world. Cripping can involve material changes (hacking environments and technologies), social changes (challenging assumptions about what…

Curb-Cut Effect(also: Electronic Curb Cut)

The phenomenon whereby features designed for people with disabilities end up benefiting a much broader population. Named after pavement curb cuts originally mandated for wheelchair users, which also help parents with pushchairs, delivery workers with carts, cyclists, and…

Data Protection(also: Data Privacy)

The practices, policies, and legal frameworks governing how personal information is collected, stored, processed, and shared by organizations. For assistive technology companies, data protection is especially critical because their products often collect intimate details about…

Deinstitutionalisation(also: Deinstitutionalization)

The process of transitioning people with disabilities — particularly intellectual disabilities and mental health conditions — from large, segregated residential institutions into community-based living arrangements with appropriate support services. Beginning in Scandinavian…

Deinstitutionalization

The process of transitioning disabled people from large, segregated residential institutions to community-based living settings, along with the development of community support services. In the United States, deinstitutionalization gained momentum in the 1950s and 1960s driven…

Design Justice

A framework that centers the perspectives of people who are most impacted by design decisions, ensuring that design processes, practices, and outcomes distribute benefits and burdens equitably. Coined by Sasha Costanza-Chock, design justice challenges traditional design power…

Design for User Empowerment(also: DfUE, Empowerment-Oriented Design)

A design philosophy that prioritizes giving users — particularly people with disabilities — the skills, tools, and agency to create, modify, and customize their own technology solutions rather than being passive recipients of products designed for them. Design for User…

Dignity of risk(also: Right to risk)

A disability rights principle, articulated by Robert Perske in 1972, asserting that people with disabilities have the right to make self-directed choices that involve risk, including the freedom to fail and learn from experience. In technology contexts, the dignity of risk…

Disability Disclosure(also: Self-Disclosure, Disability Identity Disclosure)

The act of revealing one's disability status to others, including employers, educators, peers, or service providers. Disability disclosure is a complex, strategic decision influenced by stigma, fear of negative perception, institutional culture, and the nature of the disability…

Disability Employment Gap(also: Employment Disparity)

The significant difference in employment rates between people with and without disabilities. Statistics consistently show that people with disabilities are employed at roughly half the rate of non-disabled people — for example, 34.4% versus 75.4% in the United States (2015…

Disability Identity

The ways in which individuals understand, relate to, and incorporate disability into their sense of self. Disability identity is shaped by personal experience, cultural context, community belonging, and social attitudes toward disability. People with temporary, episodic, or…

Disability Intimacy(also: Crip Intimacy, Disabled Intimacy)

The multifaceted experiences of intimacy as lived by disabled people, encompassing not only sexuality and romantic relationships but also emotional well-being, support networks, interpersonal trust, family planning, self-connection, communication in relationships, and bodily…

Disability Justice(also: DJ)

A framework developed by disabled queer and trans people of color — including Patty Berne, Mia Mingus, Stacey Milbern, Eli Clare, and Leroy Moore through Sins Invalid — that recognizes disability as intersecting with race, class, gender, sexuality, and other axes of oppression.…

Disability Pride(also: Disability Identity Pride)

The acknowledgment and embracing of disability as a valued part of personal identity rather than something to hide, overcome, or be ashamed of. Disability Pride is rooted in the social model of disability, which locates barriers in society rather than in individuals. In…

Disability Rights(also: Disability Justice, Disability Advocacy)

The movement and legal framework advocating for equal rights, opportunities, and full participation of people with disabilities in society. Key legislation includes the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD),…

Disability Rights in the Global South(also: Southern Disability Rights, Disability Justice Global South)

The movement and body of scholarship focused on the rights, inclusion, and empowerment of people with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries, where disability intersects with poverty, limited healthcare access, cultural stigma, and inadequate legal protections. While…

Disability Stereotyping(also: Disability Stereotype, Ableist Stereotyping)

The attribution of fixed, oversimplified characteristics to individuals based on their disability status. In the context of AI and language models, disability stereotyping occurs when systems associate specific disabilities with particular traits — for example, linking autism…

Disability Stigma(also: Stigma, Disability-Related Stigma)

Negative attitudes, stereotypes, prejudice, and discriminatory behavior directed toward people with disabilities. Disability stigma can lead to social exclusion, reduced opportunities, and internalized shame. In many contexts, particularly in parts of the Global South,…

Disability culture(also: Crip culture)

A cultural movement and identity framework that celebrates the diversity disability brings, recognizing the positive aspects of the disability experience — community, solidarity, creativity, and unique ways of knowing. Emerging in the late 1980s through the work of activists…

Disability pride

A positive affirmation of disability identity that rejects shame, pity, and the desire to be "fixed" or "cured." Disability pride is a core element of disability culture, rooted in the belief that disabled people will not be integrated into society as long as they are trying to…

Disability-Led Design(also: Disability-Led)

A design practice in which people with disabilities are not consultants, test subjects, or "users" but the authors, directors, and decision-makers shaping the work. Disability-led projects invert the typical power dynamic of accessibility research: non-disabled researchers and…

Disability-Led Research(also: Disabled-Led Research, Disability-Centered Research)

Research that is conceived, designed, conducted, and interpreted by disabled people rather than about them by non-disabled researchers. Disability-led research recognizes that disabled people hold unique expertise about their own experiences, needs, and solutions that cannot be…