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…

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