Glossary

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Bidirectional Learning

A principle in community-based and participatory design research in which knowledge flows in both directions between researchers/designers and community members, rather than researchers extracting data from participants. In accessibility contexts, bidirectional learning means…

Bodystorming(also: Embodied Brainstorming)

A participatory design method where participants physically act out scenarios, interactions, or use cases using their bodies rather than paper prototypes or verbal descriptions. In accessibility research, bodystorming allows designers and users with disabilities to…

Boundary Object

A concept introduced by Star and Griesemer (1989) for artefacts, documents, or concepts that are flexible enough to be used across different communities of practice while retaining a recognisable identity in each. Boundary objects let disabled people, designers, researchers,…

Citizen Science(also: Community Science, Participatory Science)

Citizen science is a research approach that engages non-expert members of the public in collecting, processing, or analyzing scientific data, often through purpose-built interactive tools and platforms. In accessibility contexts, citizen science methods have been applied to…

Co-Design(also: Co-creation, Cooperative Design)

Co-design is a collaborative design approach that actively involves all stakeholders — including end users, domain experts, and designers — as equal partners in the design process. In accessibility work, co-design ensures that people with disabilities and the professionals who…

Co-creation workshop(also: Co-creation session, Co-design workshop)

A structured collaborative session in which researchers, designers, and participants (including end users) work together to generate ideas, explore concepts, and shape the design of products, services, or research. In accessibility contexts, co-creation workshops are valued for…

Co-design(also: Co-creation, Cooperative Design)

A design methodology where end users actively participate as partners throughout the design process, contributing their expertise and lived experience to shape solutions. In co-design, researchers and participants collaboratively create design artifacts, validate concepts, and…

Community-Based Design(also: Community-Based Participatory Design, CBPD)

A design approach that situates the design process within a specific community, engaging community members as active participants and co-creators rather than passive research subjects. Unlike lab-based user research, community-based design takes place in the community's own…

Community-Based Participatory Research(also: CBPR, Community-based participatory design)

A research orientation in which academic researchers and community members collaborate as equal partners throughout the full research cycle — problem definition, design, data collection, analysis, and dissemination — to address issues of shared concern and produce outcomes that…

Community-sourcing(also: Community Sourcing, Community-contributed Data)

A data collection approach where members of a specific community contribute information based on their direct experience and local knowledge, as distinct from general crowdsourcing which draws on anonymous, unrelated workers. In accessibility contexts, community-sourcing…

Cooperative Inquiry(also: Co-Inquiry)

A participatory design methodology that involves children as full design partners throughout the technology development process, from initial brainstorming through prototyping and evaluation. Developed by Allison Druin and colleagues, cooperative inquiry treats children not…

Crowdsourced accessibility data(also: Crowdsourced validation, Accessibility crowdsourcing)

The collection, verification, or enrichment of accessibility-related geographic or environmental information through the coordinated efforts of many distributed contributors, often via web-based platforms. Examples include validating automated crosswalk detections, mapping…

DIY-AT(also: Do-It-Yourself Assistive Technology, DIY Assistive Technology)

Assistive technology that is custom-made — often using digital fabrication, low-cost electronics, 3D printing, or everyday craft materials — by or with disabled people, their families, therapists, or community members, rather than purchased as a commercial product. DIY-AT…

Design Informant(also: Informant Design)

A participatory design role in which users contribute to the design process by providing input, preferences, and feedback, but the researcher retains responsibility for interpreting this data and making design decisions. This approach contrasts with the Design Partner model…

Disability-Led Design(also: Disability-Led)

A design practice in which people with disabilities are not consultants, test subjects, or "users" but the authors, directors, and decision-makers shaping the work. Disability-led projects invert the typical power dynamic of accessibility research: non-disabled researchers and…

Embodied Critique(also: Embodied Feedback, Body-Based Critique)

A method of expressing critical feedback through physical bodies and bodily actions rather than relying solely on spoken or written language. Embodied critique draws on disability cultures where communication frequently extends beyond verbal or textual modes, recognizing that…

Embodied Sketching

Embodied sketching is a participatory design method in which participants and designers physically act out interaction ideas with their bodies, props, and the surrounding space rather than only sketching them on paper or screen. It surfaces movement, social, and sensory…

End-User Auditing(also: User-Led Auditing, End User Audits)

An approach to AI auditing in which everyday users — rather than professional evaluators — identify problems, biases, or harms in AI outputs based on their lived experience. End-user auditing is particularly valuable for surfacing harms against minoritised communities (including…

Ethic of Care(also: Care Ethics, Feminist Ethics of Care)

A moral and methodological framework, rooted in feminist philosophy, that centers relationships, responsibility, and responsiveness to the needs of others rather than abstract principles or transactional exchange. In accessibility and participatory research, an ethic of care…

Ethnographic Study(also: Ethnography, Ethnographic Research)

A qualitative research methodology originating in anthropology that involves prolonged, immersive observation of people in their natural environments to understand their behaviours, practices, and social contexts. In accessibility and assistive technology research, ethnographic…

Experience-Based Co-Design(also: EBCD)

A participatory methodology originally developed in UK health services research that treats people's lived experience - their 'emotional touch-points' of confusion, frustration, or insight - as the core material for designing services or systems. Canonical EBCD stages include…

Focus Group(also: Focus Group Discussion, Group Interview)

A qualitative research method in which a small group of participants (typically 3-10) with shared characteristics discuss a topic guided by a moderator, allowing researchers to explore perspectives, opinions, and experiences through group interaction. Focus groups are considered…

Future Workshop

A participatory research method developed by Jungk and Mullert in 1987 that supports collective reflection and idea generation about possible futures. A Future Workshop typically unfolds in phases: critique of present conditions, collective envisioning of ideal futures, and…

Hackability

A methodology and design philosophy for encouraging DIY assistive technology development in which disabled people, allies, and professionals collaboratively hack, adapt, and remix existing objects into personalized assistive solutions. Hackability events bring together makers…

Improvisation(also: Design Improvisation, Research Improvisation)

In the context of accessibility research and design, improvisation refers to the practice of creatively adapting plans and methods in response to unexpected circumstances, defined as "a creative act composed without prior thought." When conducting participatory research with…

Leadership of the Most Affected

A core principle of disability-justice organising that positions people most directly affected by a problem — those with the most at stake and the most lived expertise — as the leaders of work aimed at solving it, rather than as consultants, testers, or recipients of others'…

Legitimate Peripheral Participation(also: LPP)

A concept from Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger's situated-learning theory describing how newcomers join a community of practice by first participating in peripheral, lower-stakes activities and gradually moving toward full, central participation as they acquire the practices and…

Mediated Communication(also: Proxy Communication, Supported Communication)

Communication that is facilitated or interpreted through a third party, such as a caregiver, support worker, family member, or communication partner who knows the person well. In research involving people with intellectual disabilities or complex communication needs, mediated…

Non-Participation

In Wenger's Communities of Practice framework, the active (rather than merely absent) relationships people have with a community they do not fully join. Wenger identifies four forms: compromise (stepping back to respect another's space), cover (disengaging from issues one feels…

Nothing About Us Without Us(also: NAUWU, Nihil de nobis sine nobis)

A foundational principle of the disability rights movement asserting that people with disabilities must be meaningfully involved in decisions, policies, research, and design processes that affect their lives. In technology and AI development, this principle demands that disabled…

Online Focus Group(also: Virtual Focus Group, Remote Focus Group)

A qualitative research method in which a group of participants discusses a topic through an online platform rather than meeting in person. Online focus groups are particularly valuable for accessibility research because they remove physical barriers — such as transportation,…

PICTIVE(also: Plastic Interface for Collaborative Technology Initiatives through Video Exploration)

PICTIVE is a participatory paper-prototyping technique introduced by Michael Muller at CHI 1991, in which end users and designers jointly build low-fidelity interface prototypes using pre-cut paper UI elements (buttons, menus, text fields, icons), sticky notes, pens, and tape,…

Participant-led research(also: User-led research)

A research methodology in which participants — particularly those from marginalized or underrepresented groups — take an active role in directing the research process, shaping study protocols, and determining what aspects of a system or experience are most important to…

Participatory Captioning

A framework proposed by Nguyen et al. (2026) that characterises social media video captioning as a collaborative, community-sustained infrastructure co-produced by viewers, creators, and platforms — rather than a top-down accessibility feature delivered unilaterally.…

Participatory Design(also: Co-Design, Cooperative Design, PD)

A design methodology that actively involves end users as partners in the design process rather than passive subjects of user testing. In accessibility contexts, participatory design is particularly important because failing to consider user opinions early in design is a major…

Participatory Design with Proxies(also: PDwP, Proxy Design)

A variation of participatory design in which people who are familiar with target users or who closely resemble them are included in the design process as proxy participants. Proxies — such as parents, teachers, caregivers, or Speech-Language Pathologists — provide domain…

Participatory Evaluation(also: PE)

A research approach in which the people affected by a program, technology, or intervention are actively involved in evaluating it, rather than being passive subjects of assessment. In accessibility research, participatory evaluation means disabled people help define evaluation…

Participatory Speculative Design(also: PSD, Social Dreaming)

A design research approach that combines speculative design — imagining alternative futures and artifacts that do not yet exist — with participatory methods that position community members, particularly those historically excluded from technology design, as co-authors of those…

Person-Centred Planning(also: Person-Centered Planning, PCP)

A combination of approaches designed to empower people with disabilities to make their own choices and decisions about the support they receive. In accessibility contexts, person-centred planning shifts control from service providers to the individual, recognizing that people…

Pluralistic Walkthrough(also: Pluralistic Usability Walkthrough)

A group usability inspection method, introduced by Randolph Bias in 1994, in which users, developers, and usability specialists step through a task scenario together, each writing down the actions they would take at every screen before discussing as a group. It extends the…

Proxy Feedback(also: Proxy User Testing, Surrogate Feedback)

A user research method in which feedback on designs or prototypes is gathered from people who are close to the target users — such as carers, therapists, family members, or support workers — rather than from the users themselves. This approach is used when direct communication…

Pseudo-participation(also: Pseudo-participation by Design)

A term coined by Palacin et al. (2020) to describe forms of user involvement in design that appear participatory on the surface but grant participants limited power to shape outcomes. In accessibility and AI contexts, pseudo-participation occurs when disabled people are invited…

Research reciprocity(also: Participatory reciprocity)

The principle that research participation should be a mutually beneficial exchange in which participants gain value — such as social connection, learning opportunities, a sense of contributing to knowledge, or direct improvements to their lives — rather than being treated solely…

Reverse Inclusion

A design approach that begins with the lived experience and needs of a person with a disability and then expands the design outward to include broader social circles and communities. Reverse inclusion inverts the typical inclusive design process, which starts from neurotypical…

SWIM Method(also: Someone Who Isn't Me, SWIM Technique, SWIM Video Prompts)

A participatory design technique where fictional characters ("someone who isn't me") are used in narrative scenarios to help co-designers envision and discuss technology concepts without the cognitive burden of self-reference. Particularly valuable in accessibility research with…

Service Learning(also: Community-Based Learning)

A teaching method that combines academic instruction with meaningful community service, allowing students to learn through hands-on participation that addresses real needs. In accessibility education, service learning often involves students working directly with people with…

Situated Learning

A theory of learning, associated with Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, which holds that knowledge is not primarily abstract information transferred between minds but an embodied practice acquired through doing things in a real social context with other practitioners. In…

Situated Play Design(also: SPD)

Situated Play Design is a design approach developed by Altarriba Bertran and colleagues that treats play as something emergent from a specific social, physical, and cultural setting rather than something to be engineered into a generic product. It combines ethnographic…

Study Circle(also: Folkbildning, Learning Circle)

A democratic, non-formal adult education method originating in Nordic countries where a small group of people meet regularly to discuss and learn about a specific topic. Unlike traditional classroom instruction, study circles have no teacher—instead, a facilitator guides…

Surrogate Users(also: Proxy Users)

Individuals who stand in for actual end users during design and evaluation processes, typically used when direct user involvement is impractical, ethically problematic, or insufficient. In accessibility research, surrogate users may include actors trained to portray people with…