Glossary

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Caption Accuracy(also: Captioning Accuracy, Transcription Accuracy)

A measure of how correctly captions represent the spoken content, typically expressed as the percentage of words that match the ground truth transcript. Caption accuracy is critical for deaf and hard of hearing users who depend on captions for comprehension, particularly in…

Caption Crawler(also: Reverse Image Search Alt Text)

A technique and tool that retrieves existing alternative text for web images by performing reverse image searches to find the same image on other websites where it has already been described. Rather than generating new descriptions, Caption Crawler reuses human-written alt text…

Caption Customization(also: Caption Personalization, Adaptive Captioning)

The ability for viewers to adjust caption properties to match their individual preferences and needs. Caption customization can encompass visual attributes like font size, color, and positioning, as well as content-level attributes like level of detail, expressiveness, and sound…

Caption Delay(also: Caption Latency, Synchronization Delay)

The time lag between spoken audio and the appearance of the corresponding caption on screen. In live captioning, typical delays are around 5–6 seconds due to the time needed for captioners to hear, process, and produce text plus transmission overhead. In fast-paced sports, such…

Caption Density

The amount of caption text displayed on screen relative to the available display time and screen space. High caption density—common in fast-paced scenes with many sound events—can overwhelm viewers by requiring rapid reading while also attending to visual content. Caption…

Caption Flow(also: Captioning Flow, Text Flow)

The smoothness and regularity with which caption text appears and updates on screen during real-time captioning. Good caption flow means text arrives at a consistent pace without jarring delays, sudden bursts, or choppy delivery. Research shows that caption flow significantly…

Caption Highlighting(also: Text Highlighting in Captions, Keyword Highlighting in Captions)

The visual emphasis of important words within video captions to help viewers quickly identify key concepts and reduce the cognitive load of reading dynamic text. Research with Deaf and Hard of Hearing users has found that underlining 5-15% of the most important words in captions…

Caption Occlusion(also: Caption Blocking, Subtitle Occlusion)

The phenomenon where captions or subtitles visually block or cover other important information displayed on a video screen. Caption occlusion is a significant accessibility concern for Deaf and Hard of Hearing viewers, who depend on captions for dialogue access but may…

Caption Placement(also: Caption Positioning, Subtitle Placement)

The decision of where captions or subtitles are positioned on a video screen, which significantly affects the viewing experience of Deaf and Hard of Hearing users. Poor caption placement can occlude important visual information such as speakers' faces, onscreen graphics, or news…

Caption Quality(also: Subtitle Quality)

The overall fitness of a set of captions or subtitles for their intended accessibility purpose. Quality is multi-dimensional: it includes text accuracy (whether spoken words are correctly transcribed, commonly measured by Word Error Rate or the NER model), synchronicity with the…

Caption Readability

The ease with which viewers can read and process caption text on screen, influenced by factors including font size, display duration, caption density, reading speed requirements, and competition with on-screen visual content. Caption readability is a core accessibility concern…

Caption quality metric(also: ACE metric, Caption evaluation metric)

A measure designed to predict how understandable automatically generated captions are for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing users, as an alternative to standard Word Error Rate which correlates poorly with actual DHH comprehension. The Automatic Caption Evaluation (ACE) metric combines…

Captioned Telephone(also: CapTel, Captioned Phone)

A telecommunications device that displays real-time captions of what the other party is saying during a phone call, enabling people who are hard of hearing to read the conversation while also listening. Captions are generated by a trained communications assistant who re-voices…

Captioning(also: Captions, Closed captions, Subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing)

The conversion of spoken dialogue, sound effects, and other auditory information into synchronised text displayed alongside audiovisual content. Captioning makes audio content accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing and also benefits people in noisy environments,…

Captioning(also: Captions, Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, SDH)

The process of displaying synchronized text on screen that represents spoken dialogue, sound effects, and other audio information in video content. Unlike subtitles, captions are specifically designed for deaf and hard of hearing viewers and include non-speech sounds like [door…

Captioning Key(also: DCMP Captioning Key)

A set of guidelines and best practices for creating high-quality captions, most notably published by the Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP). The Captioning Key covers standards for caption accuracy, consistency, placement, and the representation of non-speech sounds.…

Captions(also: Subtitles, Text Captions)

Text displayed on screen that represents the audio content of a video, including spoken dialogue and important sound effects. Captions are essential for deaf and hard of hearing viewers but also benefit people with ADHD (providing a second modality for processing information),…

Card Sorting(also: Card Sort)

A user research and information architecture method in which participants organise items (written on cards or displayed digitally) into groups that make sense to them, and may also label those groups. In open card sorting, participants create their own group categories; in…

Care Ecosystem(also: Assistive Technology Ecosystem, AT Ecosystem)

A network of interconnected stakeholders—including clinicians, makers, recipients, caregivers, and organizations—who collectively support the provision, customization, and maintenance of assistive technology. Care ecosystems recognize that successful AT use depends not just on…

Care Partner(also: Care Dyad, Caregiving Relationship)

A term encompassing both the person providing care (caregiver) and the person receiving care (care receiver), emphasizing the collaborative and reciprocal nature of care relationships rather than a one-directional helper-recipient dynamic. The care partner framework recognizes…

Care Staff(also: Care Worker, Direct Care Worker, Personal Care Aide)

Individuals who provide day-to-day personal care and support to residents in care facilities, including assistance with eating, bathing, dressing, toileting, and mobility. Care staff are distinct from medical professionals such as nurses and doctors; they typically receive basic…

Care Technology(also: Care robots, Robots for care, Assistive care technology)

Technology designed to support caregiving activities in institutional or home settings, including robotic systems, monitoring devices, and digital tools that assist care workers and care recipients. Care technology encompasses a broad range of applications from documentation…

Care Web(also: Care Web in Practice)

A care web is a relational network of overlapping, often reciprocal support that sustains a disabled person's participation in everyday life, described by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha in 'Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice'. Rather than locating support in a single paid…

Career Development Learning(also: CDL, Career Readiness Education)

Educational activities and resources that develop students' capabilities for transitioning from higher education to employment, including self-awareness, opportunity awareness, decision-making, and transition skills. For students with disabilities, accessible career development…

Caregiver(also: Carer, Care partner, Support person)

A person who provides ongoing assistance to someone with a disability, chronic condition, or age-related need, encompassing both formal caregivers (paid professionals) and informal caregivers (family members, friends, partners). In accessibility and assistive technology,…

Caregiver(also: Family Caregiver, Informal Caregiver, Carer)

A person who provides unpaid assistance with daily activities, emotional support, and care coordination for a family member, friend, or neighbor who has a disability, chronic illness, or age-related needs. Caregivers face significant physical, emotional, financial, and time…

Caregiver Burden(also: Carer Burden, Caregiver Stress)

Caregiver burden refers to the physical, emotional, social, and financial strain experienced by individuals who provide ongoing care to a family member or partner with a disability, chronic illness, or age-related condition such as dementia. Caregivers often experience…

Caregiver Burnout(also: carer burnout, caregiver exhaustion)

A state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion that occurs when a caregiver does not get the support or respite they need, often resulting from the sustained demands of caring for a person with a chronic or progressive condition such as Alzheimer's disease. Symptoms…

Caregiver Interdependence(also: Care Dependency, Caregiver Reliance)

The mutual reliance between a disabled person and their caregivers, encompassing physical assistance, emotional support, and technological mediation. In accessibility contexts, caregiver interdependence highlights that many disabled people rely on caregivers not just for…

Caregiver Support(also: Carer Support, Family Support)

Assistance, training, and resources provided to family members, paid carers, and other individuals who support people with disabilities in daily life. In the context of assistive technology, caregiver support is essential because caregivers often play a critical role in setting…

Caregiving(also: Carer, Caregiver, Care Partner)

The unpaid or paid work of supporting another person with daily living, health management, social participation, or emotional needs, often in the context of disability, chronic illness, or ageing. In accessibility research, caregiving is usually treated as an interdependent…

Caret Browsing(also: Caret Navigation, Caret Browse Mode)

A browser navigation mode that places a movable text cursor (caret) directly in web page content, allowing users to navigate and select text using standard keyboard commands as if the page were a document in a text editor. Typically activated by pressing F7 in Firefox and…

Carousel(also: Image Carousel, Content Carousel, Slider Carousel)

A UI pattern that displays a rotating series of content items (images, cards, teasers) in a single area, typically navigated by swipe, arrows, or auto-advance. Carousels pose well-known accessibility risks: auto-rotation can violate WCAG 2.2.2 (Pause, Stop, Hide), items beyond…

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome(also: CTS, Carpal Tunnel)

A condition caused by compression of the median nerve as it passes through the carpal tunnel in the wrist, resulting in numbness, tingling, weakness, and pain in the hand and fingers. Carpal tunnel syndrome is commonly associated with repetitive hand and wrist movements,…

Cascading Access Barriers(also: Compounding Barriers, Barrier Cascades)

A pattern where an initial accessibility barrier triggers a chain of subsequent barriers, each compounding the difficulty of the previous one. For example, missing a pharmacy notification (first barrier) leads to a medication gap (second barrier), which worsens executive…

Cascading Style Sheets(also: CSS, Stylesheets)

A stylesheet language used to describe the visual presentation of HTML documents, controlling layout, colors, fonts, spacing, and responsive design. CSS is intentionally separated from HTML content to allow flexibility in styling while prioritizing semantic structure—a design…

Cascading classifier(also: Staged classifier, Multi-stage classifier)

A machine learning architecture that applies progressively more computationally expensive analysis stages, with each stage filtering out easy-to-classify cases so that only ambiguous instances proceed to deeper analysis. In accessibility applications, cascading classifiers…

Cascading classifier(also: Cascaded detection, Multi-stage classifier)

A machine learning architecture that chains multiple detection stages in sequence, where each stage filters candidates before passing them to the next, progressively increasing detection precision while maintaining recall. In accessibility applications, cascading classifiers are…

Case Study(also: Case Study Research)

A research method involving an in-depth investigation of a single individual, group, event, or situation in its real-world context. Case studies combine multiple data sources such as observations, interviews, and documents to build a detailed understanding of the subject. In…

Cataracts(also: Cataract)

A clouding of the eye's natural lens that causes blurry or hazy vision and increased sensitivity to glare. Cataracts are the leading cause of vision impairment worldwide and become increasingly common with age. People with cataracts may experience difficulty reading, reduced…

Category 3 Blindness(also: ICD-10 H54 Category 3, WHO Category 3 Visual Impairment)

A classification of severe visual impairment under the World Health Organization's ICD-10 coding for disorders of the visual system (H54). Category 3 covers blindness in which the better eye has presenting visual acuity worse than 1/60 (20/1200 Snellen) but can still perceive…

Causal Listening

A mode of listening, identified by composer and theorist Pierre Schaeffer, in which the listener focuses on identifying the source or cause of a sound — for example, hearing crumpling paper and recognising it as something being discarded, or hearing a camera shutter and…

Cause and Effect Software(also: Cause and Effect Games, Contingency Learning Software)

Simple interactive software designed for users with significant cognitive or motor disabilities, where any input (such as pressing a switch) produces an immediate sensory response (visual, auditory, or both). These programs help users understand the relationship between their…

Celebratory technology

Technology designed to highlight, affirm, and celebrate neurodivergent and disabled ways of being, rather than seeking to correct, normalize, or remediate them. Coined by LouAnne Boyd (2023), celebratory technology contrasts with deficit-oriented assistive technology by…

Cell Navigation(also: Table Cell Navigation, Cell-by-Cell Navigation)

Cell navigation is a method of accessing tabular data non-visually by moving between individual cells using directional commands (up, down, left, right). Rather than reading a table linearly from top-to-bottom, cell navigation allows screen reader users to traverse the…

Center of Pressure(also: COP, Centre of Pressure)

The point on a surface where the total sum of pressure forces acts, used as a key measure in balance and postural stability assessment. In standing balance evaluation, COP is measured using force plates or pressure-sensing devices like the Nintendo Wii Balance Board. COP path,…

Central Bank Digital Currency(also: CBDC)

A digital form of a country's official currency issued and regulated by its central bank, designed to function as legal tender alongside physical cash. CBDCs raise significant accessibility and inclusion considerations, as their design determines whether people with…

Central Vision(also: Foveal Vision)

Central vision is the area of sharpest sight in the visual field, corresponding to the fovea at the centre of the retina. It is responsible for detailed tasks such as reading, recognizing faces, and distinguishing fine detail and colour. Loss of central vision, commonly caused…

Central Vision Loss(also: Central Scotoma, Macular Vision Loss)

Loss of vision in the central part of the visual field, typically caused by conditions affecting the macula such as macular degeneration or Stargardt disease. Central vision is responsible for detailed tasks like reading, recognizing faces, and seeing fine detail. Musicians with…

Central Vision Loss(also: Central Field Loss, Central Scotoma)

Loss of vision in the central part of the visual field, typically caused by damage to the macula — the area of the retina responsible for sharp, detailed vision. People with central vision loss experience difficulty seeing fine details directly in front of them, often describing…