Glossary

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Medication Management(also: Medication Adherence, Medication Compliance)

The process of overseeing and managing the medications prescribed to an individual, including remembering to take medications at the correct times, in the correct doses, and tracking what has been taken. Medication management is a significant challenge for older adults and…

Meeting Accommodation(also: Meeting Accessibility)

Adjustments, services, or technologies provided to ensure that people with disabilities can fully participate in meetings, lectures, and group activities. Common meeting accommodations include sign language interpreters, real-time captioning (CART), assistive listening devices,…

Mel Spectrogram(also: Mel-frequency Spectrogram, Log Mel Spectrogram)

A visual representation of sound that maps audio frequencies onto the mel scale, which approximates how humans perceive pitch — compressing higher frequencies and expanding lower ones to match the non-linear sensitivity of human hearing. Mel spectrograms convert audio signals…

Meltdown(also: Sensory meltdown)

An intense, involuntary response to overwhelming sensory, emotional, or cognitive overload, commonly experienced by autistic and other neurodivergent individuals. Unlike a tantrum, a meltdown is not a deliberate behaviour but a loss of behavioural control triggered when coping…

Member Checking(also: Respondent Validation, Participant Validation)

A qualitative research technique in which researchers share their data interpretations and findings with members of the studied community to assess accuracy, resonance, and completeness. Member checking enhances the validity of qualitative research by ensuring that the…

Meme Accessibility(also: Social Media Image Accessibility)

The practice of making internet memes — images, GIFs, and short videos that spread virally through social media — accessible to people with disabilities, particularly those with vision impairments. Memes typically combine visual elements with text overlays, cultural references,…

Memory(also: Human Memory)

The cognitive capacity to encode, store, and retrieve information and past experiences. Memory is typically distinguished into short-term/working memory, long-term memory (which includes episodic, semantic, and procedural subtypes), and autobiographical memory of one's own life.…

Memory Aid(also: Memory Wallet, Memory Book, External Memory Aid)

A tool or device that supports memory function by providing external cues, reminders, or stored information that a person can reference. For people with dementia or other cognitive impairments, memory aids may include wallets with photos and captions, communication boards,…

Memory Cue(also: Memory Prompt, Recall Cue, Retrieval Cue)

Any stimulus — such as a photograph, sound, object, location, or verbal prompt — that triggers the recollection of a past experience or piece of information. In assistive technology for people with episodic memory impairment, memory cues are used to help individuals recall…

Memory Impairment(also: Memory Loss, Memory Deficit)

A reduction in the ability to encode, store, or retrieve information, ranging from mild forgetfulness associated with normal ageing to severe deficits caused by conditions such as dementia or traumatic brain injury. Memory impairment affects digital accessibility in multiple…

Mental Fatigue(also: Cognitive Fatigue, Mental Exhaustion)

A state of reduced cognitive capacity resulting from prolonged mental effort, characterized by difficulty concentrating, slower processing, increased errors, and reduced ability to handle unexpected situations. Mental fatigue particularly affects people with dementia, traumatic…

Mental Health(also: Mental Well-Being, Psychological Health)

A state of well-being encompassing emotional, psychological, and social functioning, in which an individual can cope with normal stresses of life, work productively, and contribute to their community. Mental health conditions — including anxiety disorders, depression, bipolar…

Mental Health Self-Management(also: Self-Management, Mental Health Self-Care)

The practices and strategies that individuals use to manage their mental health symptoms independently in daily life, outside of formal therapy sessions. For OCD, self-management includes applying therapeutic techniques (exposure exercises, thought diffusion), tracking symptoms,…

Mental Health Stigma(also: Psychiatric Stigma, Mental Illness Stigma)

Negative attitudes, beliefs, and discrimination directed toward people with mental health conditions, leading to social exclusion, reduced help-seeking, and diminished self-esteem. For people with OCD, stigma manifests as public misunderstanding of the condition (trivializing…

Mental Imagery(also: Visual Imagery, Mind's Eye Imagery)

Mental imagery is the experience of perceiving sensory information, most often visual, in the absence of the corresponding external stimulus, such as picturing a familiar face or replaying a remembered scene. Imagery vividness varies widely between individuals and is commonly…

Mental Map(also: Cognitive Map, Mental Model of Space)

An internal cognitive representation of a physical environment, including spatial relationships, landmarks, routes, and distances. For people with blindness or visual impairments, building a mental map of a route before traveling is a critical strategy for independent mobility,…

Mental Model(also: Cognitive Model, User Mental Model)

A user's internal representation of how a system, interface, or environment works, built through experience and interaction. In web accessibility, mental models are critical because screen reader users build spatial mental models of webpage layouts even without seeing them,…

Mental Workload(also: Cognitive Load, Cognitive Workload)

The amount of cognitive effort and mental resources required to complete a task. In accessibility contexts, mental workload is an important measure of how demanding an interface is to use — an interface may be technically functional but impose excessive cognitive burden on users…

Menu Selection(also: Menu Navigation, Menu Selection Task)

A fundamental computer interaction task in which a user chooses an option from a set of items presented in a menu structure, typically involving locating the target item, moving the cursor to it, and clicking to select. Menu selection performance is commonly measured by task…

Menu-Driven Interface(also: Menu-Based Interface, Menu Selection Interface)

A user interface style in which the available actions at each point in the interaction are presented to the user as an on-screen list, and the user selects an option by number, letter, keystroke, or pointer. Menu-driven interfaces reduce the need to memorise commands and are…

Mercator

A research screen reader system developed at the Georgia Institute of Technology by W. Keith Edwards and Elizabeth Mynatt for the X Window System on Unix workstations. Mercator pioneered the approach of providing access to graphical user interfaces at the semantic level —…

Mermaid(also: Mermaid.js)

An open-source JavaScript-based diagramming and charting tool that renders diagrams from a Markdown-inspired text specification language. Mermaid supports flowcharts, sequence diagrams, class diagrams, state diagrams, entity-relationship diagrams, Gantt charts, and more, and is…

Meta Ray-Ban Smart Glasses(also: Ray-Ban Meta, Meta Smart Glasses)

Consumer smart glasses produced through a partnership between Meta and Ray-Ban that integrate cameras, speakers, and microphones into a conventional eyewear form factor. When paired with Meta's Live AI feature, these glasses enable hands-free, voice-activated interaction with…

Meta-Research(also: Research on research, Metascience)

The systematic study of research itself — the tools, workflows, norms, infrastructures, and institutional practices through which scholarly knowledge is produced, evaluated, and disseminated. Meta-research examines questions such as which methods and technologies researchers…

Meta-learning(also: Learning to Learn)

A branch of machine learning where models are trained to learn new tasks from very few examples by leveraging knowledge gained from previous tasks. In accessibility applications, meta-learning enables technologies like teachable object recognizers that can quickly adapt to…

Metacognition(also: Thinking About Thinking, Meta-Cognitive Awareness)

The awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes, including the ability to plan, monitor, and evaluate one's cognitive strategies during learning or problem-solving. In accessibility, supporting metacognition through design means providing tools and cues that help…

Metacommunication(also: Designer-User Metacommunication)

In semiotic engineering, metacommunication refers to the overarching communication that takes place between a software designer and a user through the medium of the computer interface. The interface acts as the designer's deputy, conveying messages about what the system does,…

Metadata

Data that provides structured information about other data or digital content. In accessibility, metadata plays a critical role in describing the accessibility features and characteristics of digital resources — for example, indicating whether a document has alternative text for…

Metadata Repository(also: Metadata Store, Metadata Registry)

A server-side system that stores and serves descriptive data about other resources — in accessibility contexts, typically information about web pages or their elements that helps assistive technology render them more usably. A metadata repository lets multiple tools share the…

Metamessage(also: Designer's Metamessage)

In Semiotic Engineering theory, the overarching one-way message that a designer sends to users through the system's interface, communicating who the system is for, what it can do, how to use it, and why it was designed that way. The metamessage is encoded through interface signs…

Metaverse

The metaverse refers to a persistent, interconnected network of virtual and mixed-reality spaces where users can interact, collaborate, and engage with digital content and each other in real time. It extends XR concepts — virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality —…

Method cards(also: Design method cards, Ideation cards)

Structured design tools consisting of cards that present scenarios, questions, or prompts to guide designers through specific aspects of the design process. In accessibility contexts, method cards present concrete situations experienced by people with disabilities to help…

Micro Assistive Technology(also: Micro-AT, Accessibility Plugins)

Small, single-feature assistive technology components that address specific accessibility needs, analogous to browser plugins or app add-ons in mainstream software. Unlike full assistive technology suites, micro-AT focuses on individual enhancements that can be developed by…

Micro-Culture(also: Communication Micro-Culture, Subculture)

A distinct set of communication norms, practices, and shared understandings that develop within a specific community or group of individuals. In AAC communication, micro-culture refers to the unique "listener-feedback dialect" that AAC users form—blending device output with…

Micro-Navigation(also: Micro Navigation)

The process of navigating the immediate environment — detecting and avoiding obstacles, following the edge of a pavement, identifying surface changes, and maintaining a safe path. For blind and visually impaired travellers, micro-navigation is the domain of traditional primary…

Micro-Prompting(also: Step Prompting, Task Segmentation)

An assistive technology approach that breaks complex multi-step tasks into individual sub-steps, presenting each step one at a time to guide users through completion. Originally developed to support people with acquired brain injury and dementia in daily activities like meal…

Micro-task(also: Microtask, HIT, Human Intelligence Task)

A small, self-contained unit of work that can be completed independently, typically in seconds to minutes, often distributed through crowdsourcing platforms. In accessibility contexts, micro-tasks such as image description, transcription, and content tagging are commonly used…

Microaggression

A subtle, often automatic remark, question, or action that communicates prejudice or negative stereotypes toward a member of a marginalized group. Originally coined by psychiatrist Chester Pierce in the 1970s to describe subtle discrimination against African Americans, the…

Microcapsule Paper(also: Swell Paper, Capsule Paper, Swell Touch Paper)

A specialized paper used to create raised tactile graphics, containing heat-sensitive microcapsules of alcohol embedded in its surface. When black carbon-based ink is printed on the paper and then passed through a heat fuser, the microcapsules beneath the dark areas expand and…

Microelectrode Array(also: Utah Array, MEA)

A small grid of fine recording electrodes (typically 96 silicon shanks in a 4mm x 4mm Utah array) surgically implanted into the cerebral cortex to record the electrical activity of individual neurons and small neural populations. Microelectrode arrays are the sensing front-end…

Microformats(also: uFormats)

Microformats are a set of simple, open data formats built upon existing HTML standards that add machine-readable semantic meaning to web content by using standardized class names and HTML attributes. For accessibility, microformats enhance the semantic richness of web pages,…

Micrographia(also: Small Handwriting)

A condition characterized by abnormally small, cramped handwriting that often becomes progressively smaller within a line or paragraph. Micrographia is a common early sign of Parkinson's Disease, resulting from the same motor control difficulties that cause bradykinesia. The…

Microinteraction(also: Micro-interaction, Quick interaction)

A brief, high-frequency interaction with a device that typically takes a sighted user less than four seconds to complete, such as checking the time, glancing at a notification, or adjusting the volume. Microinteractions are significant for accessibility because they expose…

Micromobility(also: Shared Micromobility, Micro-Mobility)

Micromobility refers to small-scale, lightweight, networked transportation vehicles used to travel short distances, typically weighing under 500 kg and traveling at low to moderate speeds. Examples include e-scooters, dockless bicycles, electric bikes, and seated scooters…

Microscopic Navigation(also: Within-Page Navigation, Page-Level Navigation)

The process by which screen reader users navigate through individual elements and content within a single web page to find relevant information, as distinct from site-wide navigation between pages. Microscopic navigation involves detecting relevant content and skipping…

Microservices(also: Microservice Architecture)

A software architecture pattern where an application is composed of small, independent services that communicate over well-defined APIs, each responsible for a specific function and deployable independently. In accessibility tooling, microservices architecture enables modular…

Microsoft Active Accessibility(also: MSAA, Active Accessibility)

Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA) is an accessibility API introduced by Microsoft in 1997 that enables assistive technologies such as screen readers to interact with user interface elements in Windows applications. MSAA provides a standardized way for applications to expose…

Microsoft Copilot(also: Copilot, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot in Excel)

Microsoft Copilot is a family of generative AI assistants integrated into Microsoft 365 applications including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams, as well as GitHub and Windows. In Excel and Google Sheets-style workflows, Copilot lets users describe spreadsheet…

Microsoft HoloLens(also: HoloLens, HoloLens 2)

A self-contained, optical see-through mixed reality headset developed by Microsoft that overlays holographic content onto the real world. The HoloLens 2 features hand and eye tracking, spatial mapping, and gesture-based interaction, making it suitable for applications in…

Microsoft Kinect(also: Kinect, Kinect sensor)

A motion-sensing device that captures RGB video, depth images, and skeletal tracking data simultaneously. Originally developed for gaming, the Kinect became widely adopted in accessibility research due to its affordable price point (compared to laboratory equipment) and ability…