Glossary

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Activities of daily living(also: ADLs, Daily living activities)

The fundamental self-care tasks that a person performs routinely each day, including feeding, bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, and mobility. Originally proposed by Sidney Katz in the 1950s, ADLs are used in healthcare and occupational therapy as a measure of functional…

Adventitious blindness(also: Acquired blindness, Late blindness, Acquired visual impairment)

Vision loss that occurs after a period of sighted experience, as opposed to congenital blindness (present from birth). People with adventitious blindness retain visual memories, mental imagery, and familiarity with visual concepts like color and spatial layout, which…

Age-Related Capability Decline(also: Age-Related Impairment, Dynamic Diversity)

The gradual reduction in sensory, motor, and cognitive capabilities that typically accompanies ageing, including declining visual acuity, hearing loss, reduced dexterity and fine motor control, and changes in memory and processing speed. Unlike many disabilities that are stable…

Age-Related Decline(also: Age-Related Impairment, Age-Related Changes)

The gradual reduction in physical, sensory, and cognitive abilities that occurs as part of the natural aging process. Age-related declines that affect technology use include reduced visual acuity (difficulty reading small text and icons), decreased fine motor control (difficulty…

Agnosia

A neurological condition in which a person has difficulty recognising familiar objects, faces, places, sounds, or other sensory stimuli despite intact basic sensory function and general cognition. Specific subtypes include visual agnosia (difficulty recognising objects or…

Alexithymia

A subclinical condition in which a person has marked difficulty identifying, describing, and distinguishing their own emotions, often accompanied by an externally oriented thinking style and limited imagination about inner states. Alexithymia commonly co-occurs with autism,…

Amblyopia(also: Lazy eye)

A neurodevelopmental vision disorder in which one eye has reduced visual acuity that cannot be fully corrected with glasses or contact lenses, caused by abnormal visual development in early childhood. The brain favors one eye and partially suppresses input from the weaker eye,…

Anomalous Trichromacy(also: Anomalous Trichromatic Vision)

A category of colour vision deficiency where all three types of cone cells are present but one type has a shifted sensitivity range, resulting in altered colour perception that is less severe than dichromacy. The three forms are protanomaly (shifted red cones), deuteranomaly…

Anomia(also: Word-finding difficulty, Anomic aphasia)

Anomia is a language impairment characterized by difficulty retrieving words during speech, particularly the names of objects, people, or actions. It is the most common symptom across all types of aphasia and can also occur as a standalone condition (anomic aphasia). In…

Anxiety(also: Anxiety Disorder)

An emotional and physiological state characterised by apprehension about future threats, accompanied by heightened autonomic arousal (elevated heart rate, muscle tension, shallow breathing), attentional bias toward danger cues, and often avoidance behaviour. Clinical anxiety…

Aphantasia(also: Mind Blindness)

Aphantasia is a neurological condition in which a person is unable to voluntarily create mental images or visualize objects, people, or scenes in their mind. It affects an estimated 2-5% of the population and exists on a spectrum from reduced imagery to complete absence. In…

Apraxia(also: Apraxia of Speech, Childhood Apraxia of Speech, CAS)

A motor speech disorder in which the brain has difficulty coordinating the muscle movements needed to produce speech, despite the muscles themselves not being weak. The person knows what they want to say but their brain has difficulty planning and sequencing the precise…

Astigmatism

A common refractive error caused by an irregularly shaped cornea or lens, resulting in blurred or distorted vision at all distances. The cornea is shaped more like a rugby ball than a sphere, causing light to focus on multiple points rather than one. Astigmatism frequently…

AuDHD(also: Autism and ADHD co-occurrence)

A term used by the neurodivergent community to describe the co-occurrence of autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in the same individual. Research suggests significant overlap between the two conditions, with estimates indicating that 50-70% of…

Auditory processing disorder(also: APD, Central auditory processing disorder, CAPD)

A neurological condition in which the brain has difficulty interpreting and organizing sounds despite normal hearing ability. Unlike hearing loss, auditory processing disorder affects how the central auditory nervous system processes what is heard, making it difficult to…

Autistic Burnout(also: Autistic Fatigue, Neurodivergent Burnout)

A state of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion experienced by autistic people, often resulting from the cumulative effect of masking (suppressing autistic traits to appear neurotypical), sensory overload, and the ongoing effort of navigating environments not designed for…

Autistic Meltdown(also: Meltdown, Sensory Meltdown)

An autistic meltdown is an intense, involuntary response to overwhelming sensory, emotional, or cognitive overload, during which an autistic person may temporarily lose the ability to regulate their behavior, emotions, or communication. Meltdowns can manifest as crying, shutting…

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