Glossary

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Ability Assumptions(also: Ability-Based Assumptions, Normative Assumptions)

Ability assumptions are the implicit expectations that technology designers build into systems about users' physical, sensory, and cognitive capabilities. These assumptions — about how fast someone moves, their range of motion, body proportions, grip strength, speech patterns,…

Ability requirement(also: Ability demand, Interaction prerequisite)

A capability that a person must possess in order to use a technology system, created implicitly by the system's design. AI systems generate new ability requirements: voice assistants require recognizable speech production, autonomous vehicles require pedestrians to look and move…

Access Differential(also: Accessibility Gap, Access Gap)

Access differential is the gap between the access that nondisabled people experience and the access that people with disabilities experience when using the same technologies, services, or environments. Unlike a binary view of accessibility (accessible or not), access…

Accessibility Barrier(also: A11y Barrier)

Any aspect of a digital product, web page, document, or service that prevents or impedes a person with a disability from perceiving, operating, understanding, or using it on an equivalent basis to someone without that disability. Examples include missing alt text on images,…

Administrative Burden(also: Bureaucratic Burden, Process Burden)

The cumulative effort, time, stress, and negative impacts that result from navigating administrative processes such as applying for benefits, gaining medical evidence, completing forms, and interacting with multiple organisations to achieve a particular goal. For disabled…

Age-Related Impairment(also: Age-Related Decline, Aging-Related Disability)

Functional limitations that commonly develop with advancing age, often involving multiple interacting mild impairments rather than a single major disability. Age-related impairments may affect vision (presbyopia, reduced contrast sensitivity, cataracts), hearing (presbycusis),…

Anonymization(also: Anonymity, Anonymous Communication)

The process of concealing a person's identity when they create or share content, enabling participation in discussions about sensitive, personal, or controversial topics without fear of identification or reprisal. While anonymization is straightforward for users of written…

Artboard(also: Canvas, Slide Canvas, 2-D Canvas)

An artboard is a two-dimensional digital workspace used in presentation software (PowerPoint, Google Slides, Keynote), graphic design tools, and whiteboard applications where objects like text boxes, shapes, images, and connectors can be placed at arbitrary positions. Artboards…

Audio CAPTCHA(also: Audio HIP, Audio Human Interaction Proof)

An auditory alternative to visual CAPTCHAs, typically presenting distorted spoken letters, numbers, or words that users must transcribe. While intended as an accessible alternative for blind users, research shows audio CAPTCHAs have success rates of only 43-50% for screen reader…

Aural Interface(also: Voice Interface, Voice-Controlled Interface, Voice User Interface)

An aural interface is a user interface that relies primarily on spoken language for both input (voice commands) and output (spoken responses). Examples include Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, and Google Assistant. While aural interfaces have become increasingly popular due to their…

CAPTCHA(also: Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart)

A challenge-response test used on websites to determine whether a user is human, typically requiring users to identify distorted text, select images, or solve puzzles. CAPTCHAs present significant accessibility barriers, particularly for users with visual impairments who cannot…

Capacitive Touchscreen(also: Capacitive Touch Display, Cap Touch)

A capacitive touchscreen is a type of display that detects touch input by sensing changes in the electrical field caused by the conductivity of a human finger or conductive stylus. Unlike resistive touchscreens that require physical pressure, capacitive screens respond to the…

Conditional Formatting

Conditional formatting is a spreadsheet feature that automatically applies visual styles — fill color, font color, bold text, icons, data bars — to cells whose values meet specified rules (for example, highlighting failing grades in red or above-average sales in green). It is…

Cybersickness(also: VR Sickness, Simulator Sickness, Virtual Reality Motion Sickness)

A form of motion sickness experienced during virtual reality use, characterized by symptoms including nausea, disorientation, dizziness, eye strain, and general discomfort. Cybersickness occurs due to sensory conflicts between what the visual system perceives (movement in the…

Digitized Assessment(also: Digitised Assessment, Digital Hiring Assessment, Computer-Based Employment Assessment)

A computer-based hiring test used by employers to evaluate candidates' personality, cognition, skills, or judgement. Common formats include personality inventories, gamified cognitive tasks (balloon-inflating risk tests, Flanker attention tasks, arithmetic mini-games),…

Disabling Factor(also: Disabling Condition, Situational Barrier)

An external condition that blocks or hinders an otherwise available ability from being used to complete a task. Disabling factors can arise from technology design (such as ability assumptions embedded in interfaces), environmental conditions (like noise or poor lighting), or…

Fitness Tracker(also: Activity Tracker, Wearable Fitness Device)

A wearable electronic device that monitors and records physical activity metrics such as steps taken, distance covered, calories burned, and heart rate. Most commercial fitness trackers use step-counting algorithms that rely on detecting the repetitive arm swing of walking,…

HTML Canvas(also: Canvas API, Canvas Element)

An HTML element used to draw graphics on a web page via JavaScript, rendering content as a bitmap image rather than as structured DOM elements. Unlike SVG, canvas content is not inherently accessible to screen readers because it produces a flat pixel surface with no semantic…

Human Interaction Proof(also: HIP, Human Interactive Proof)

A challenge-response test designed to distinguish human users from automated software (bots). Human Interaction Proofs are the technical term for CAPTCHAs and similar verification systems. While effective against automated attacks, HIPs present significant accessibility…

Illiteracy(also: Functional Illiteracy, Low Literacy)

The inability to read or write, or having reading and writing skills below a functional level needed for everyday tasks. In the context of digital accessibility, illiteracy and low literacy present significant barriers to using text-based interfaces, navigating websites,…

Inequitable Access(also: Inadequate Accommodation)

Inequitable access describes the situation where accommodations or accessibility measures are provided but fail to adequately address the underlying inaccessibility, leaving people with disabilities with access that is significantly inferior to what nondisabled people…

Information asymmetry(also: Information gap, Information lag)

In accessibility contexts, the unequal access to timely, relevant information experienced by disabled people compared to non-disabled peers, caused by inaccessible formats, platforms, and communication channels. Information asymmetry goes beyond the inability to access specific…

Infrastructural precarity(also: Digital infrastructure barriers)

The condition of unreliable, inconsistent, or inadequate technological infrastructure that shapes and constrains how people — particularly disabled people and those in the Global South — can access and use digital technologies. Infrastructural precarity encompasses unreliable…

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,…

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…

Ocularcentrism(also: Visual Bias, Vision-Centrism)

The privileging of visual perception and visual ways of knowing in the design of technologies, interfaces, and information systems. Ocularcentrism in technology design manifests when visual assumptions are embedded in systems that are intended to be accessible — for example,…

Outlier detection(also: Anomaly detection, Novelty detection)

An algorithmic technique that identifies data points or behaviors that deviate significantly from expected patterns, used in fraud detection, quality assurance, CAPTCHAs, and crowd labor platforms. People with disabilities are disproportionately flagged as outliers because…

Personal Delivery Device(also: PDD, Delivery Robot, Autonomous Delivery Robot)

Personal delivery devices (PDDs) are small autonomous or semi-autonomous robots that travel on sidewalks and pedestrian pathways to deliver food, packages, and other goods. These devices have been granted pedestrian status under traffic code in several US states, giving them the…

Right-of-Way(also: Pedestrian Right-of-Way, ROW)

Right-of-way refers to the legal right of a pedestrian, vehicle, or other entity to proceed with precedence over others in a specific area of public space. In accessibility, pedestrian right-of-way is critical because sidewalks, curb ramps, and crosswalks are essential pathways…

Sensory erasure(also: Sensory exclusion)

The systematic marginalization or elimination of non-visual sensory modalities in the design of technologies, interfaces, and information systems. Sensory erasure occurs when platforms treat visual interaction as the only legitimate or primary mode of engagement, rendering…

Sighted People Interference(also: Sighted Interference)

A social barrier experienced by blind and visually impaired people when sighted individuals's reactions, interventions, or presence impede their independent activities in public spaces. This can include unsolicited help, judgmental reactions from store staff or other shoppers,…

Situationally Induced Impairment(also: SIID, Situational Impairment, Situational Disability)

A temporary functional limitation caused by environmental or contextual factors rather than a permanent health condition or disability. Examples include difficulty using a phone while walking (reduced motor accuracy), inability to hear audio in a noisy environment, or screen…

Syntax Highlighting(also: Code Highlighting, Syntax Coloring)

A feature of text editors and IDEs that displays source code in different colors and fonts based on the category of terms—keywords, variables, strings, comments, and operators are visually distinguished to improve readability and help programmers identify syntax errors. While…

Touch Target(also: Tap Target, Hit Area, Target Size)

A touch target is the area on a touchscreen interface that responds to a user's tap or touch input. Accessibility guidelines recommend minimum touch target sizes to ensure that people with motor impairments, limited dexterity, or larger fingers can reliably activate interactive…

Version segregation(also: Parallel versions, Separate accessible version)

A design practice in which a separate, simplified, or modified version of a product, game, or platform is created specifically for disabled users rather than making the main version accessible. While intended to improve access, version segregation often results in social…

Z-Order(also: Stacking Order, Layer Order)

Z-order refers to the front-to-back layering sequence of overlapping objects on a 2-D digital canvas, determining which objects appear in front of or behind others. In accessibility, Z-order is significant because screen readers in presentation software often read objects…

36 results.