Glossary

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Dark Pattern(also: Deceptive Pattern, Manipulative Design)

A user interface design deliberately crafted to trick, manipulate, or coerce users into making unintended choices that benefit the service provider rather than the user. Dark patterns include hidden costs, forced continuity, disguised ads, confirm-shaming, and misdirection. In…

Data Minimization

A privacy principle requiring that organizations collect, process, and retain only the minimum amount of personal data necessary to accomplish a specific purpose. For assistive technology users, data minimization is particularly important because these technologies often capture…

Data Representativeness(also: Dataset Representativeness, Demographic Representativeness)

The degree to which a dataset reflects the diversity of the population it is intended to serve, particularly across demographic dimensions such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, disability, and socioeconomic status. In AI and machine learning, unrepresentative training data leads…

Data Sharing(also: Open Data, Data Dissemination)

The practice of making research data available to other researchers or the public for reuse, replication, and further analysis. In accessibility research, data sharing presents unique tensions: datasets sourced from people with disabilities are essential for building inclusive…

Data Stewardship(also: Dataset Stewardship, Data Governance)

The responsible management of data throughout its lifecycle, including decisions about collection, storage, access, sharing, and disposal. In accessibility research, participatory data stewardship involves disabled data contributors in decisions about how their data is used,…

Data Transparency(also: Data Processing Transparency)

The practice of clearly communicating to users what data is collected, how it is processed, where processing occurs (on-device vs. cloud), how data is stored, and who has access to it. In accessibility contexts, blind users have expressed strong desires to understand data…

Dataset Bias(also: Training Data Bias, Data Representation Bias, Sampling Bias)

A systematic skew in the composition of training data used to build machine learning models, resulting in models that perform well for overrepresented groups but poorly for underrepresented ones. In accessibility contexts, dataset bias is a pervasive problem: activity…

Datasheets for datasets(also: Dataset documentation, Data cards)

A standardized documentation framework proposed by Gebru et al. that accompanies machine learning datasets with information about their creation, composition, intended use, and limitations. For accessibility, datasheets help surface representation gaps — such as whether people…

Dataveillance

Surveillance conducted through the systematic collection, aggregation, and analysis of personal digital data — clicks, location traces, physiological signals, text, voice, facial data — rather than through direct observation. Dataveillance is the dominant mode in modern…

Deepfake(also: Synthetic Media, AI-Generated Media)

AI-generated or AI-manipulated media (images, video, audio, or text) designed to convincingly depict events, people, or statements that never occurred. Deepfakes pose specific risks for people with disabilities: AI-generated fake images of disabled people have been used for…

Deficit-Oriented Research(also: Deficit Model, Deficit-Based Approach)

A research approach that frames its subjects primarily in terms of what they lack, cannot do, or need to have fixed, rather than recognizing their strengths, agency, and lived expertise. In disability and accessibility research, deficit-oriented approaches treat disabled bodies…

Design Saviorism

A problematic dynamic in design practice where nondisabled designers position themselves as rescuers of disabled people, seeking praise while attempting to fix something that is not broken. Design saviorism perpetuates power imbalances by centering the designer's perspective…

Digital Nudge(also: Technology Nudge, Behavioral Nudge)

Design elements in digital interfaces that subtly guide users toward particular behaviors or decisions. In privacy contexts, nudges might suggest obfuscating detected sensitive content or prompt users to review their sharing settings. HCI scholarship has critiqued nudging as…

Dignity of risk(also: Right to risk)

A disability rights principle, articulated by Robert Perske in 1972, asserting that people with disabilities have the right to make self-directed choices that involve risk, including the freedom to fail and learn from experience. In technology contexts, the dignity of risk…

Disability Rights(also: Disability Justice, Disability Advocacy)

The movement and legal framework advocating for equal rights, opportunities, and full participation of people with disabilities in society. Key legislation includes the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD),…

Disability dongle

A well-intentioned but impractical accessibility invention, typically created by non-disabled people, that fails to address the actual needs of disabled users. The term, coined by disability advocate Liz Jackson, critiques technologies designed without meaningful input from…

Doll Therapy

A nonpharmacological intervention used in dementia care in which a person is given a lifelike doll to hold, dress, and care for. For some people with advanced dementia, engaging with the doll can reduce agitation and distress, promote calm, and provide a sense of purpose and…

17 results.