Glossary

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Internet Archive(also: Wayback Machine, Web Archive)

A non-profit digital library founded in 1996 that archives web pages, books, audio, video, and software for free public access. Its Wayback Machine service stores historical snapshots of websites, allowing researchers to view how web pages appeared at specific points in time. In…

Internet Health(also: Web Health)

A concept describing the overall state of the internet as a public resource, encompassing factors such as accessibility, privacy, security, openness, and digital inclusion. In the context of web accessibility, Internet Health refers specifically to how well the web serves people…

Internet Voting(also: E-Voting, Electronic Voting, i-Voting)

Internet voting (also known as e-voting or i-voting) is the casting and counting of votes via internet-connected systems, enabling voters to participate in elections from any location without attending a physical polling station. For accessibility, internet voting is significant…

Internet of Things(also: IoT)

A network of physical devices embedded with sensors, software, and connectivity that enables them to collect and exchange data over the internet. In accessibility contexts, IoT devices—including smart speakers, connected thermostats, automated locks, and wearable health…

Interoception(also: Interoceptive Awareness)

The sense of the internal state of the body, including perception of heartbeat, breathing, hunger, thirst, temperature, pain, and emotional feelings. Interoception enables people to recognize and respond to their physiological and emotional states. Differences in interoception…

Interoperability

The ability of different systems, devices, applications, or products to connect and communicate with each other in a coordinated way, without requiring special effort from the user. In accessibility, interoperability is critical because assistive technologies must be able to…

Interpersonal Accessibility(also: Social Access)

The dimension of accessibility that depends on social interactions and communication between people rather than on physical infrastructure or digital technology alone. Interpersonal accessibility encompasses the informal negotiations, requests for help, and explanations of…

Interpersonal Reactivity Index(also: IRI)

A widely used multidimensional self-report measure of empathy developed by Mark H. Davis in 1980. The instrument contains four seven-item subscales: perspective taking (the tendency to adopt another's point of view), empathic concern (feelings of warmth and compassion for…

Interpersonal Safety

Interpersonal safety refers to protection from threats of bodily harm caused by other people, such as assault, harassment, or violence. For people with disabilities, interpersonal safety presents distinct challenges because visual or auditory cues used to assess threats from…

Interpretive Agency(also: Viewer Agency)

The capacity of an audience member to form their own independent understanding and emotional response to content, free from imposed interpretations. In the context of media accessibility, interpretive agency is a concern when AI-generated or highly expressive captions may impose…

Interpretive Alt Text

Alt text that goes beyond objective, functional description to convey interpretive dimensions of an image such as mood, symbolism, narrative, and aesthetic effect. It is most relevant for images where meaning is carried by formal attributes (composition, color, lighting,…

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…

Intersection Detection(also: Junction detection, Corridor intersection recognition)

A computer-vision or sensor-fusion technique used in indoor navigation systems for blind travellers to identify where two or more walkable corridors meet, so the navigation software can update the user's position on a map and issue a turn instruction at the right moment.…

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…

Intersectionality

A framework for understanding how different aspects of a person's identity — including disability, race, gender, class, immigration status, language, and age — interact to create unique experiences of privilege or disadvantage that cannot be understood by examining any single…

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…

Intracortical BCI(also: iBCI, Intracortical Brain-Computer Interface)

A brain-computer interface that records neural activity directly from inside the cerebral cortex, typically using surgically implanted microelectrode arrays such as the Utah array. Compared with non-invasive EEG-based BCIs, intracortical BCIs offer dramatically higher…

Intralingual Subtitling(also: Same-language subtitling, SLS)

The practice of transcribing and synchronising audio content into text in the same language as the spoken audio. Intralingual subtitling differs from interlingual (translation) subtitling and is particularly important for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers, second-language…

Intrinsic Cognitive Load(also: Intrinsic Load)

One of three types of cognitive load identified by cognitive load theory, referring to the inherent difficulty of the material being learned based on its complexity and the learner’s prior knowledge. Intrinsic cognitive load is determined by the number of elements that must be…

Intrinsic Complexity(also: Intrinsic Cognitive Load)

In Cognitive Load Theory, intrinsic complexity refers to the inherent difficulty of understanding and processing the content or material itself, as opposed to extraneous complexity which arises from how the material is presented or accessed. In accessibility contexts,…

Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation refers to engaging in an activity for its inherent satisfaction rather than for external rewards or consequences. In accessibility and inclusive design, understanding intrinsic motivation is crucial for creating technologies that people genuinely want to…

Intrinsic Motivation Inventory(also: IMI)

A standardized psychometric instrument used to assess participants' subjective experience during activities, measuring dimensions such as interest/enjoyment, perceived competence, effort/importance, value/usefulness, and felt pressure/tension. The IMI is commonly used in HCI and…

Intrinsic accessibility

A property of a user interface whose underlying architecture inherently supports adaptation across a broad range of user capabilities, as distinct from functional accessibility which addresses specific user profiles through bolt-on assistive technology. An intrinsically…

Intrusive Thoughts(also: Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts)

Unwanted, distressing thoughts, urges, or images that enter a person’s mind involuntarily and are typically experienced as ego-dystonic (contrary to the person’s values or intentions). Intrusive thoughts are the defining feature of the obsessions in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder…

Intubation(also: Endotracheal Intubation)

A medical procedure in which a tube is inserted through the mouth or nose into the trachea (windpipe) to maintain an open airway and assist with mechanical ventilation. Intubation renders patients unable to speak because the tube passes through or bypasses the vocal cords. In…

Inverse Kinematics(also: IK)

A mathematical technique used in computer animation and robotics to calculate the joint positions needed to place an end effector (such as a hand or foot) at a desired position in space. In signing avatar applications, inverse kinematics allows natural arm and body posture to be…

Invisible Cost of Disability(also: Hidden Cost of Disability, Disability Tax, Crip Tax)

The additional time, energy, money, and cognitive effort that people with disabilities must expend to accomplish tasks that non-disabled people can complete without such overhead. In workplace contexts, these costs include purchasing extra assistive technology and software,…

Invisible Disability(also: Hidden Disability, Non-Apparent Disability)

A disability that is not immediately apparent to others through visual observation. Invisible disabilities include ADHD, chronic pain, mental health conditions, learning disabilities, autoimmune conditions, traumatic brain injury, and many others. People with invisible…

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…

Irish Sign Language(also: ISL, Teanga Chomharthaíochta na hÉireann)

The indigenous sign language of the Deaf community in Ireland, distinct from both English and Irish (Gaelic) spoken languages and from British Sign Language (BSL). Like all sign languages, ISL uses manual features (hand shapes, movements, and positions) and non-manual features…

Ishihara Test(also: Ishihara Colour Test, Ishihara Plates)

A widely used clinical screening test for red-green colour vision deficiencies, consisting of a series of circular plates made up of coloured dots arranged in a mosaic pattern. Each plate contains a number or shape formed by dots of certain colours set against a background of…

Isolated Sign Language Recognition(also: isolated SLR, word-level sign recognition)

A sign language recognition task that focuses on identifying individual, pre-segmented signs rather than continuous signing sequences. In isolated SLR, each sign is captured as a separate video clip with clear start and end points, simplifying the recognition problem compared to…

Isolated Sign Recognition(also: ISR, ISLR)

A computer vision and machine learning task focused on identifying individual signs from video recordings where each video contains a single sign production, as opposed to continuous sign language recognition which processes connected signing in sentences or conversation.…

Isometric Gesture(also: Isometric Contraction Gesture)

An isometric gesture is a gesture in which a person activates their muscles without producing visible movement — the body position remains static while muscle tension changes. This contrasts with isotonic gestures, where visible hand or arm movement occurs over time. Isometric…

Isotonic Joystick(also: Displacement Joystick, Free-Moving Joystick)

An isotonic joystick is a type of joystick input device that moves freely in response to applied force and returns to a centre position when released. Unlike isometric (force-sensing) joysticks that remain stationary and measure the pressure applied, isotonic joysticks…

Italic Font Style(also: italics, oblique)

A slanted or cursive-style variant of a typeface, traditionally used for emphasis, titles, or foreign words. Eye-tracking research demonstrates that italic fonts create significant accessibility barriers—Arial Italic, for example, showed the worst reading performance across…

Iterative Crowdsourcing(also: Iterative Human Computation, Multi-Round Crowdsourcing)

A human computation workflow in which multiple rounds of crowd workers build iteratively upon each other's responses to collectively achieve higher quality results than any individual worker could produce alone. In each iteration, workers are shown the previous round's outputs…

Iterative Design(also: Iterative Development, Design Iteration)

Iterative design is a methodology where designs are developed through repeated cycles of prototyping, testing, analyzing, and refining. Each iteration incorporates feedback from evaluation to improve the design progressively. In accessibility work, iterative design is…

Itinerant Teacher(also: Traveling Teacher, Itinerant TVI)

A special education teacher who travels between multiple schools to provide services to students with disabilities, rather than being based at a single location. In the context of visual impairment services, itinerant TVIs (Teachers of students with Visual Impairments) typically…