Glossary

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Identity Model of Disability(also: Affirmation Model)

A model of disability in which individuals claim disability as a positive aspect of their identity, similar to how other marginalized groups have reclaimed their identities. Unlike the medical model (which views disability as a deficiency to be fixed) or the social model (which…

Illness Narrative(also: Disease Narrative)

An illness narrative is the story a person and their significant others construct to give coherence to the disruptive experience of illness or diagnosis and its effects on the family system. In the context of cognitive impairment and dementia, the illness narrative typically…

Inequitable Access(also: Inadequate Accommodation)

Inequitable access describes the situation where accommodations or accessibility measures are provided but fail to adequately address the underlying inaccessibility, leaving people with disabilities with access that is significantly inferior to what nondisabled people…

Infrastructuring for Access

A design approach introduced by Wang and Marie (CHI 2026) that combines HCI's infrastructuring theory with Disability Studies and Repair Studies. Rather than focusing on removing barriers or accommodating individual users, Infrastructuring for Access treats disabled…

Inspiration Porn

The portrayal of people with disabilities as inspirational solely or primarily because of their disability, objectifying them for the benefit of non-disabled audiences. Coined by disability activist Stella Young, inspiration porn reduces disabled people to motivational props and…

Intellectual Disability(also: ID, Intellectual Development Disorder)

A disability characterized by significant limitations in intellectual functioning (reasoning, learning, problem-solving) and adaptive behavior (everyday social and practical skills), originating during the developmental period. Intellectual disability exists along a continuum…

Interaction with Disabled Persons Scale(also: IDP Scale, IDP)

A standardized 20-item attitudinal instrument developed by Gething and Wheeler (1992) and later validated by Forlin, Fogarty, and Caroll (1999), designed to measure both desirable and undesirable emotions that people experience when interacting with individuals who have…

Interdependence(also: Relational autonomy)

A framework in disability studies that recognises all people — disabled and non-disabled — as fundamentally reliant on others and on social infrastructure, challenging the Western ideal of individual independence as the highest form of agency. In accessibility design,…

Interdependent Accessibility(also: Interdependence Framework, Access Interdependence)

A framework for understanding accessibility as a collective, co-created responsibility rather than an individual accommodation. Interdependent accessibility recognizes that access is produced through relationships and collaboration between disabled and non-disabled people,…

Internalized stigma(also: Self-stigma, Internalized ableism)

The process by which individuals with disabilities or neurodivergent conditions absorb and internalize negative societal attitudes about their condition, leading to shame, reduced self-worth, and reluctance to seek support. Internalized stigma can manifest as viewing one's…

Interpretive phenomenological analysis(also: IPA)

A qualitative research methodology focused on exploring how people make sense of their lived experiences, widely used in accessibility and disability research. IPA involves detailed analysis of individual accounts — typically through in-depth interviews — to understand…

Intersectionality(also: Intersectional analysis)

A theoretical framework originated by Kimberlé Crenshaw recognizing that individuals hold multiple social identities (disability, race, gender, class, sexuality) that interact to produce unique experiences of privilege and oppression that cannot be understood by examining any…

Intra-sectionality(also: Intra-sectional Analysis)

The examination of variation and diversity within a single identity category or demographic group, as opposed to intersectionality which examines the interaction between different identity categories. In disability research, intra-sectionality reveals that people within a single…

Invisible Work(also: Invisible Labour, Hidden Work)

The unrecognized and often uncompensated effort that people with disabilities must perform to navigate inaccessible environments, technologies, and workplaces. In professional settings, invisible work includes learning workarounds for inaccessible software, preparing extensively…

Invisible disability(also: Hidden disability, Non-visible disability, Non-apparent disability)

A disability that is not immediately apparent to others by observation, including conditions such as chronic pain, ADHD, autism, anxiety, depression, epilepsy, and many cognitive or neurological conditions. People with invisible disabilities often face unique challenges around…

Invisible labor(also: Access labor, Hidden work)

The additional, often unrecognized effort that people with disabilities must invest to create and maintain access in environments not designed for them. In workplace contexts, invisible labor includes learning complex workarounds for inaccessible software, memorizing keyboard…

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