Glossary

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Embossed Paper(also: Raised Paper, Tactile Paper)

Paper that has been processed to create raised textures, shapes, or text that can be perceived through touch. In accessibility contexts, embossed paper is used to represent visual information non-visually, including diagrams, user interface layouts, maps, and graphical elements.…

Embosser(also: Braille Embosser, Tactile Graphics Embosser)

A device that creates raised (embossed) output on paper or other materials, used to produce braille text and tactile graphics for people who are blind or have low vision. Braille embossers function similarly to printers but press dots upward into heavy paper to create tactile…

Embossing(also: Braille Embossing, Tactile Embossing)

The process of creating raised patterns on paper or other materials by pressing from behind, producing content that can be read by touch. In accessibility, embossing is the primary method for producing Braille text and tactile graphics. Braille embossers are specialized printers…

Embroidered Braille

Braille text produced using machine embroidery rather than traditional embossing methods. Embroidered braille uses raised stitch patterns (typically candlewick knots) to create the dots of braille cells on fabric. While embroidered braille offers the advantage of integration…

Emergency Evacuation Accessibility(also: Accessible Emergency Egress, Inclusive Emergency Evacuation)

The design of emergency evacuation procedures, systems, and infrastructure that enable people with disabilities to independently and safely exit buildings during emergencies. Traditional evacuation systems rely on visual and auditory alarms, posted signage, and physical routes…

Emergency Preparedness(also: Disaster Preparedness, Crisis Preparedness)

The planning, policies, and infrastructure put in place to ensure that communities can respond effectively to emergencies such as natural disasters, pandemics, and other crises. In accessibility contexts, emergency preparedness has a poor track record of including people with…

Emergent Communicator(also: Beginning Communicator, Pre-Symbolic Communicator)

A person who is in the early stages of learning to use symbolic communication — understanding that symbols, words, pictures, or signs can represent objects, actions, and concepts. Emergent communicators may use a combination of gestures, vocalizations, facial expressions, and…

Emergent Literacy(also: Early Literacy, Pre-literacy)

The developmental process through which young children (typically birth through age 5) acquire foundational skills and concepts about reading and writing before formal instruction begins. For sighted children, picture books and illustrations play a crucial role by providing…

Emoji(also: Emojis)

Small pictographic characters — faces, gestures, objects, symbols — encoded as Unicode code points and rendered by platform-specific font sets, used to convey affect, tone, and non-verbal nuance in otherwise text-based or visually-limited communication. For accessibility, emoji…

EmojiGrid(also: Emoji Grid, EmojiGrid Scale)

A two-dimensional self-report tool, developed by Toet et al. (2018), in which participants rate the emotional content of a stimulus by clicking on a point in a grid whose axes are valence (horizontal) and arousal (vertical). Rows and columns of emoji faces are arranged around…

Emotion Recognition(also: Facial Emotion Recognition, FER, Affect Recognition)

AI technology that attempts to identify human emotional states from facial expressions, voice patterns, body language, or physiological signals. Emotion recognition systems have been widely criticized for poor accuracy, cultural bias, and particular harm to people with…

Emotion Regulation(also: Affect Regulation, Self-Regulation of Emotion)

The processes by which a person monitors, evaluates, and modifies emotional reactions to achieve goals or meet situational demands — including selecting or changing situations, directing attention, reframing meaning (cognitive reappraisal), and adjusting outward expression.…

Emotional Accessibility(also: Psychological Accessibility)

The consideration of emotional and psychological impacts in accessibility design, recognizing that inaccessible technology affects not only task completion but also users' confidence, autonomy, stress levels, and overall well-being. Emotional accessibility extends traditional…

Emotional Agency

The ability of an individual to independently manage their emotional responses and experiences, particularly when encountering sensitive or personal information. In the context of accessibility and generative AI, emotional agency refers to the capacity of blind and low vision…

Emotional Design

A framework developed by Don Norman describing how people evaluate and form attachments to products through three cognitive levels: visceral (immediate sensory and aesthetic responses), behavioral (functional performance and usability), and reflective (personal meaning,…

Emotional Dysregulation(also: Emotion Dysregulation, Emotional Impulsivity, Affective Dysregulation)

Difficulty managing emotional responses, characterized by rapid, intense, and often disproportionate reactions to stimuli with limited reflection or regulation. Emotional dysregulation is a core yet frequently overlooked feature of adult ADHD, not included in DSM-5 diagnostic…

Emotional Engagement(also: Affective Engagement)

The degree to which a user connects emotionally with content, characters, and narrative, experiencing feelings such as excitement, tension, empathy, humor, or sadness in response to the media. In accessibility research on audio-described webtoons, emotional engagement is a…

Emotional Intelligence Test(also: EI Test, I-EQ Test, Emotional Intelligence Assessment)

A hiring assessment that asks candidates to identify emotions in photographs of faces or to judge appropriate emotional responses in social scenarios. Emotional-intelligence tests are particularly inaccessible to blind and low-vision candidates, who may be unable to interpret…

Emotional Mediation Hypothesis

A theoretical account, originating in work by Palmer and colleagues, that explains cross-modal associations between sensory attributes (such as colors and musical timbres) as being mediated by shared emotional meaning rather than by direct perceptual mapping. For example, people…

Emotional Regulation(also: Emotion Regulation, Affect Regulation)

The ability to manage, modify, and respond to emotional experiences in ways that are situationally appropriate and aligned with one's goals. Emotional regulation is a significant challenge for people with ADHD, who may experience heightened emotional reactivity, difficulty…

Emotional Safety(also: Psychological Safety)

A condition in which individuals feel secure enough to participate, take risks, and make mistakes without fear of embarrassment, judgment, or social stigma. In accessible learning environments, emotional safety is critical for people with disabilities who may feel self-conscious…

Emotional regulation(also: Emotion regulation, Affect regulation, Self-regulation)

The ability to monitor, evaluate, and modify emotional responses to meet situational demands and personal goals. Emotional regulation is often challenging for people with ADHD, autism, anxiety, and other neurodivergent or mental health conditions. Assistive strategies and…

Empathetic technical support(also: Humanizing tech support)

Technical assistance that combines practical problem-solving with emotional attunement to the user's affective state, particularly important when supporting disabled users who may experience frustration, anxiety, or overwhelm from technology difficulties. In educational…

Empathy(also: Empathic design, User empathy)

In the context of human-centered design and accessibility, empathy refers to the capacity to understand and share the experiences, needs, emotions, and challenges of users who differ from the designer in ability, age, background, or context. Empathy is a foundational competency…

Empathy Lab(also: Accessibility Lab, Assistive Technology Lab, AT Lab)

A dedicated physical or virtual space where designers, developers, and other team members can experience digital products using assistive technologies and simulations of various disabilities. Empathy labs typically include screen readers, switch devices, eye-tracking systems,…

Empathy Simulation(also: Disability Simulation, Impairment Simulation)

A design technique where non-disabled people temporarily simulate a disability experience — such as wearing a blindfold, using a wheelchair, or restricting hand movement — to develop empathy and understanding for people with disabilities. While widely used in design education…

Empathy Tools(also: Empathy Aids, Empathy-building Tools, Age Suits)

Empathy tools are physical or digital artefacts designed to give non-disabled designers a limited first-hand experience of specific impairments or ageing effects — cataract-simulating goggles, blurring film overlays, age suits that add weight and restrict joint movement,…

Empathy in Design(also: Design Empathy, Empathic Design)

Empathy in design refers to the ability and practice of understanding and sharing the feelings, perspectives, and experiences of the people who will use a product or service. In accessibility contexts, empathy involves recognizing the challenges faced by people with disabilities…

Employee Onboarding Accessibility(also: Accessible Onboarding, Inclusive Onboarding)

The practice of ensuring that the employee onboarding process — including signing contracts, completing HR forms, accessing web portals, and orientation activities — is fully accessible to people with disabilities. Inaccessible onboarding systems frequently use mouse-dependent…

Employment Accessibility(also: Workplace Accessibility, Job Accessibility, Accessible Employment)

The broad concept of ensuring that all aspects of finding, applying for, interviewing for, and performing a job are accessible to people with disabilities. Employment accessibility encompasses accessible job postings, application systems, interview accommodations, pre-employment…

Employment Discrimination(also: Workplace Discrimination, Hiring Discrimination)

Unjust or unequal treatment of workers or job seekers on the basis of protected characteristics including disability, age, race, gender, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation. In the United States, disability-based employment discrimination is covered by the Americans…

Empowerment

A process through which individuals with disabilities gain control over their own lives, make informed decisions, and develop the skills, knowledge, and confidence to advocate for themselves. In accessibility and disability contexts, empowerment involves shifting power dynamics…

Emulated Empathy

Emulated empathy is the design strategy, central to AI companion systems, of producing interactional cues - attentive language, affective mirroring, memory of previously shared information - that simulate an empathic relationship without the system possessing any subjective…

End Effector(also: Haptic Stylus, Haptic Pen)

The physical component of a haptic device that the user directly touches or manipulates to interact with a virtual environment. In assistive technology contexts, end effectors translate digital information into tactile sensations — the device applies forces, vibrations, or…

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…

End-User Customization(also: User Customization, Personalisation)

The ability for users to modify the presentation or behaviour of a digital interface according to their individual preferences and needs. In accessibility, end-user customization is particularly important because there is no universal profile for many disability groups — people…

End-User Elicitation(also: Elicitation Study, User-Defined Gestures)

A participatory research method where end users are asked to propose or create their own interaction techniques, gestures, or commands for a given system function, rather than having researchers prescribe interactions in advance. In accessibility research, elicitation studies…

End-User Programming(also: EUP, End-User Development, EUD)

A design approach that enables people without formal programming training to create, modify, or combine software behaviors to suit their own needs. Typical end-user programming systems expose computational building blocks through accessible interfaces such as visual block…

End-to-End Verifiability(also: E2E Verifiability, E2EV)

End-to-end verifiability (E2EV) is a property of voting systems that allows voters to independently verify that their ballot was cast as intended, recorded as cast, and counted as recorded — without relying on trust in any single authority or system component. It is composed of…

End-to-End Verifiable Voting(also: E2E-V, End-to-End Verifiable Election System)

A class of voting systems designed so that each voter can independently verify their vote was cast as intended, recorded as cast, and counted as recorded, while preserving ballot secrecy. Examples include Helios, Belenios, Scantegrity, Pret-a-Voter, and newer wallet-based…

Endangered Sign Language(also: Minority Sign Language, Under-Documented Sign Language)

A sign language at risk of falling out of use, typically because the Deaf community that uses it is small, geographically isolated, or under pressure to adopt a dominant sign language. Most of the world's estimated 300+ sign languages are poorly documented, with African sign…

EndeavorRx(also: Endeavor Rx, EndeavorRx DTx)

The first FDA-cleared prescription digital therapeutic for children with ADHD, cleared in June 2020. EndeavorRx is a mobile video game designed to improve attention function in children aged 8-12 with ADHD by targeting neural systems associated with attention through sensory…

Endpoint Detection(also: Voice Activity Detection, VAD)

The process by which a speech-recognition system decides when a user has finished speaking, so the system can stop listening and send the captured audio for recognition. Off-the-shelf voice assistants typically use a silence threshold of 500ms-1s, which cuts off users who pause,…

Energy Conservation(also: Energy management)

Energy conservation refers to a set of self-management strategies designed to help people with chronic conditions, fatigue-related disabilities, or fluctuating energy levels maintain function and independence by using their available energy efficiently. Core techniques include…

Enforced Trust(also: Compelled Trust)

A dynamic in which blind people are required to trust technologies, sighted individuals, and systems without having independent means to verify the information or outputs provided to them. Enforced trust arises from the knowledge imbalance where blind users cannot directly…

Engagement Detection(also: Engagement Monitoring, Engagement Recognition)

The use of sensors, computer vision, or other technologies to automatically assess whether a person is actively engaged with a task, device, or activity. Engagement detection systems typically monitor observable behaviours such as gaze direction, touch interaction patterns,…

English Literacy(also: Reading Literacy, English Reading Literacy)

The ability to read, write, and comprehend written English. In the context of deaf and hard-of-hearing accessibility, English literacy is a significant consideration because many DHH individuals — particularly those who are native ASL users — may have lower levels of English…

English as a Second Language(also: ESL, ENL, ELL)

English as a Second Language (ESL) refers to the teaching and learning of English by speakers of other languages. In accessibility contexts, language barriers are recognized as a significant form of exclusion, affecting over 1.5 billion English learners worldwide who may…

Enhanced Activities of Daily Living(also: EADLs, EADL (gerontology), Advanced Activities of Daily Living)

In gerontology and human-robot interaction research, the highest tier of everyday activities — higher-order social, recreational, and civic pursuits that enable full participation in society, such as using computers and the internet, volunteering, engaging in hobbies, pursuing…

Enhanced Area Touch(also: Area Touch, Expanded Touch Area)

A touchscreen interaction technique that enlarges the effective touch point from a single pixel to a larger circular area, expanding both the motor space (the physical area the user needs to target) and the visual space (the on-screen representation of targets). When multiple…