Glossary

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Abstract Widget(also: Abstract Interaction Object)

A user interface component defined by its semantic purpose and interaction behavior rather than its visual appearance. Abstract widgets specify what a user can do (select from options, enter text, trigger a command) without prescribing how the interaction is rendered — it could…

Direct Speech Access(also: Speech-Enabling)

An approach to providing speech output where applications generate spoken feedback directly from their semantic context, as opposed to the traditional screen-reading approach where an external program interprets the visual display. In direct speech access, each application has…

DragonDictate(also: Dragon Dictate)

An early discrete speech recognition system developed by Dragon Systems that allowed users to control computers and dictate text by speaking one word at a time with brief pauses between words. Released in the early 1990s, DragonDictate was one of the first commercially viable…

Drake Music Project(also: Drake Music, DMP)

A UK charity founded in 1988 that facilitates music-making for physically disabled people through technology. The Drake Music Project runs workshops using adapted music technology — including MIDI controllers, switches, and customized software — to enable people with physical…

Emacspeak(also: The Emacspeak Audio Desktop)

A free, open-source speech output system built on top of the Emacs text editor that provides complete auditory access to a computing environment for blind and visually impaired users. Created by T. V. Raman in 1994 and still actively maintained, Emacspeak pioneered the concept…

Gallaudet University

A federally chartered private university in Washington, D.C., and the only university in the world designed specifically for deaf and hard of hearing students, with all programs and services tailored to their needs. Founded in 1864 and named after Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, a…

Graphical User Interface(also: GUI, WIMP Interface)

A visual interface paradigm based on windows, icons, menus, and pointer (WIMP) interaction, which became dominant in personal computing from the late 1980s onward. GUIs represented a major accessibility challenge when they replaced text-based command lines: screen readers…

HeadMaster(also: HeadMaster Plus)

An early head-pointing assistive technology device developed by Prentke Romich Company that translates head movements into mouse cursor movements on screen. The HeadMaster uses an ultrasonic sensor worn on the head (typically mounted on a headband or glasses) to track head…

Interaction Shell

A software component that renders user interface elements in a specific modality and handles direct interaction with the user. In the Fruit toolkit architecture, the interaction shell is separated from the application logic, allowing different shells (GUI, character-screen,…

Kurzweil Reading Machine(also: KRM, Kurzweil Reader)

A pioneering reading device for blind people invented by Ray Kurzweil in 1976, combining optical character recognition (OCR) with text-to-speech synthesis to read printed text aloud. The original device was as large as a stove and produced mechanical-sounding speech, but it…

Milan Congress(also: Milan Congress of 1880, Second International Congress on Education of the Deaf)

The Milan Congress was an international conference on the education of Deaf children held in Milan in 1880, where hearing educators voted to ban sign language from Deaf schools and impose oralism, the exclusive use of speech and lip-reading, as the standard pedagogy. The…

Pervasive Accessible Technology(also: PAT)

A strategy for integrating accessibility directly into information technology infrastructure rather than retrofitting it after the fact. Proposed by Michael Paciello in 1996, Pervasive Accessible Technology combines a Standard Human Interface with an Accessible Information…

SIGACCESS(also: ACM SIGACCESS, SIGCAPH, Special Interest Group on Accessible Computing)

The ACM Special Interest Group on Accessible Computing, the primary professional organization within ACM dedicated to accessibility research. Originally founded as SIGCAPH (Special Interest Group on Computers and the Physically Handicapped) in the 1970s, the group was renamed…

Screen Reader/2(also: IBM Screen Reader/2, SR/2)

Screen Reader/2 was an early screen reader developed by IBM for the OS/2 operating system, first released in the early 1990s. It was one of the pioneering commercial screen readers, providing blind and visually impaired users with text-to-speech and audio output to access…

Standard Human Interface(also: SHI)

A concept within the Pervasive Accessible Technology framework referring to a standardized set of input and output capabilities — including microphones, speakers, touch screens, glidepoint touchpads, kiosks, infrared devices, and video cameras — that serve as the physical point…

Telecommunications Device for the Deaf(also: TDD, TTY, Text Telephone)

A specialized device that enables text-based telephone communication for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. TDDs transmit typed text over telephone lines using acoustic coupling or direct connection, requiring compatible devices at both ends of the conversation. While TDDs…

Text-Mode Browser(also: Text Browser, Terminal Browser, Console Browser)

A web browser that renders web pages as text only, without displaying images or graphical layout, typically running in a command-line terminal or console environment. The most well-known text-mode browser is Lynx, developed at the University of Kansas in the early 1990s.…

Trace R&D Center(also: Trace Center, Trace Research and Development Center)

A pioneering research center focused on accessibility and assistive technology, originally established at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1971 and later affiliated with the University of Maryland. Founded and long directed by Gregg Vanderheiden, the Trace Center developed…

VRML(also: Virtual Reality Modeling Language)

A file format and markup language for describing interactive 3D objects and environments on the web, first standardized in 1995. VRML allowed users to view, rotate, and navigate 3D scenes in web browsers using plugin viewers. In accessibility, VRML was used in early projects to…

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