Glossary

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CVAA(also: Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act)

The 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, enacted in the United States in 2010 and updated in 2020, which requires major broadcast and cable networks to make online video content accessible through the provision of audio descriptions and closed captions. The…

Captions(also: Subtitles, Text Captions)

Text displayed on screen that represents the audio content of a video, including spoken dialogue and important sound effects. Captions are essential for deaf and hard of hearing viewers but also benefit people with ADHD (providing a second modality for processing information),…

Closed Captions(also: CC)

Captions that can be turned on or off by the viewer, as opposed to open captions which are permanently embedded in the video. Closed captions typically include not just dialogue but also descriptions of relevant non-speech audio like music, sound effects, and speaker…

Cognitive Accessibility(also: Cognitive A11y)

The practice of designing digital content and interfaces to be usable by people with cognitive, intellectual, learning, and neurological disabilities. Cognitive accessibility addresses barriers related to attention, memory, problem-solving, comprehension, and executive function.…

Collective Communication Access(also: CCA)

A framework developed by McDonnell et al. (2023) that reconceptualises communication access as a shared, co-constructed practice distributed across everyone involved in an interaction, rather than as an individual accommodation provided to disabled participants. CCA argues that…

Color Vision Deficiency(also: Color Blindness, CVD, Colour Blindness)

A condition in which a person has difficulty distinguishing between certain colors, most commonly red and green (deuteranopia/protanopia), but also blue and yellow (tritanopia) or all colors (achromatopsia). Color vision deficiency affects approximately 8% of males and 0.5% of…

Combination Repertoire

A type of technology repertoire where multiple tools work together simultaneously to provide access for a single task. For example, a person who is deaf and hard of hearing might use automatic captions, Bluetooth hearing aids, and good lighting together during in-person…

Community-Driven Accessibility(also: Crowdsourced Accessibility, Peer-Driven Accessibility)

Accessibility improvements initiated and maintained by community members rather than platform operators or content creators. Examples include viewers adding timestamps and chapter breakdowns in video comments, community members providing alternative text descriptions, users…

Computer-Using Agent(also: CUA)

An AI agent, typically built on a Large Multimodal Model, that perceives a computer's graphical user interface through screenshots, reasons about on-screen context, and directly manipulates the interface by clicking, typing, scrolling, and navigating between applications. Unlike…

Consent(also: Informed Consent)

Voluntary, informed, and revocable agreement by a person to a particular action or interaction involving them - whether that is sexual activity, data collection, medical treatment, research participation, or interaction with an automated system. In accessibility contexts,…

Consent Model(also: Consent Framework)

A prescriptive framework specifying how consent should be requested, given, sustained, and revoked in a particular interaction context. Examples include affirmative consent (explicit verbal agreement), embodied consent (drawing on bodily and somatic cues), and haptic consent…

Consequence Calculus

The decision-making process by which disabled individuals weigh all available options for addressing an access barrier and select the option that best matches their priorities given their contextual factors. Consequence calculus involves evaluating trade-offs across multiple…

Consequence-Based Accessibility

A framework introduced by Mack and McDonnell that describes how people with chronic illnesses experience access barriers where the consequences of their actions, rather than the nature of the task itself, make something inaccessible. For example, a person may be physically…

Content Focus(also: Content Focus Mode, Presentation Focus)

A video layout customization option that enlarges and centers the primary visual content being discussed—such as presentation slides, demonstrations, or graphical illustrations—while removing or minimizing other visual elements like the speaker and auxiliary overlays. Content…

Content Quality(also: Information Quality)

The accuracy, reliability, completeness, and trustworthiness of information presented in digital content. For health-related and disability-related content on social media and video platforms, content quality is a critical concern because misinformation can lead to harmful…

Content Wants(also: Information Wants, Content Preferences)

The specific types of information that a user desires or needs from a piece of content, as opposed to information needs imposed by an external system or standard. In image accessibility research, content wants refer to the particular visual elements (objects, people,…

Context-Aware(also: Context-Aware Design, Context-Sensitive)

An approach to designing systems, content, or interfaces that adapt their behavior or output based on the context in which they are used, including the user's goals, the platform or source where content appears, environmental conditions, and user preferences. In accessibility,…

Contextual Factors

The characteristics of a person, their tools, or their environment that influence experiences of access or inaccessibility. Contextual factors include identity-related factors (race, gender, class, age, language, religion, sexuality, body size), social contexts (who one is…

18 results.