Glossary

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ABET(also: Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology)

A non-profit, non-governmental body that accredits US post-secondary programmes in applied and natural science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology. ABET’s Computing Accreditation Commission and Engineering Accreditation Commission set the programme outcomes that…

ACM Code of Ethics(also: ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct)

A statement of professional ethics maintained by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) that sets out the moral and professional responsibilities of computing practitioners. Significantly revised in 2018, the Code explicitly addresses accessibility and inclusion, stating…

Accessibility Engineer(also: Accessibility Engineering, A11y Engineer)

A professional role focused on applying specific methodologies and methods to ensure that information and communication technology products and systems are accessible to people with disabilities throughout the entire development lifecycle. Accessibility engineering is positioned…

Accessibility First(also: Shift Left Accessibility, Built-In Accessibility)

A design and pedagogical philosophy that treats accessibility as a foundational requirement from the very beginning of a project or course of study, rather than addressing it as an advanced topic or retrofit at the end. The term draws an analogy to building construction:…

Accessibility Internet Rally(also: AIR, AIR-Austin)

An annual web-development competition run by Knowbility (based in Austin, Texas) in which teams of developers are paired with non-profit clients and judged partly on the accessibility of the websites they build in a short timeframe. AIR uses a structured judging rubric that…

Assistive Technology Curriculum(also: AT Curriculum, Adaptive Technology Curriculum, Accessibility Curriculum)

An assistive technology curriculum is a structured educational programme that teaches the principles, design, evaluation, and implementation of technology aids for people with disabilities. Such curricula typically span topics including disability awareness, accessibility…

Authentic Learning(also: authentic pedagogy, real-world learning)

A pedagogical approach that emphasizes learning through meaningful, real-world tasks and contexts rather than abstract exercises. In accessibility education, authentic learning involves direct interaction with users who have disabilities, real-world projects addressing actual…

Bloom's Taxonomy

A hierarchical framework originally proposed by Benjamin Bloom in 1956 and later revised, classifying educational learning objectives into levels of cognitive complexity: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. In accessibility education,…

Broadening Participation in Computing(also: BPC)

A term of art, promoted heavily by the U.S. National Science Foundation and professional societies such as ACM, referring to concerted efforts to increase the participation of groups that are historically underrepresented in computing — including women, people of color, people…

CSUN Assistive Technology Conference(also: CSUN, CSUN Conference, ATIA Conference at CSUN)

The largest annual assistive technology conference in the world, organized by California State University, Northridge's Center on Disabilities. Founded in 1985, the conference brings together thousands of attendees including AT users, professionals, developers, educators, and…

Computer Science Education(also: CS Education)

The field of teaching and learning computing concepts, programming, and computational thinking across K-12, post-secondary, and professional contexts. CS education relies heavily on visual representations — code editors, diagrams of data structures and algorithms, flowcharts,…

Culturally Responsive Computing(also: Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in Computing, Culturally Relevant Computing)

A pedagogical approach to computing education that grounds instruction in learners' cultural, linguistic, and socio-economic realities rather than treating Global North curricula and technologies as universally applicable. Building on Ladson-Billings' culturally relevant…

DO-IT(also: Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking and Technology)

A pioneering program founded at the University of Washington in 1992 by Sheryl Burgstahler, funded by the National Science Foundation, to increase the participation of students with disabilities in science, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and careers. DO-IT…

Design-Based Research(also: DBR)

A collaborative, iterative research methodology used in education and human-computer interaction that develops theory and refines interventions through cycles of design, implementation, evaluation, and redesign in authentic real-world settings. DBR involves practitioners and…

Disability Etiquette(also: Disability manners, Interaction etiquette)

A set of conventions for respectful and appropriate interaction with disabled people, typically taught to non-disabled colleagues, service staff, students, and healthcare providers. Common principles include speaking directly to the disabled person (not their interpreter or…

Disability-Related Embodied Empathy from Existing Media(also: DREEM)

A design pedagogy approach, introduced by Baltaxe-Admony et al., that does not translate specific aspects of disability theory into technology requirements but instead develops curricula that sensitise design students to disability cultures and to the lived experiences of…

Dunning-Kruger Effect

A cognitive bias in which people with limited knowledge or competence in a domain overestimate their ability, while those with greater expertise tend to underestimate their relative skill. In accessibility, the Dunning-Kruger effect appears when developers or designers believe a…

Global Accessibility Awareness Day(also: GAAD)

An annual event held on the third Thursday of May to focus attention on digital access and inclusion for the more than one billion people with disabilities worldwide. Founded in 2011, GAAD is observed through events, talks, workshops, panels, and accessibility-focused…

Inclusive Thinking

A design and problem-solving mindset that treats the needs of people with diverse abilities as a core consideration from the outset of a project, rather than as an afterthought or accommodation added later. Inclusive thinking goes beyond technical knowledge of accessibility…

National Technical Institute for the Deaf(also: NTID)

The National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), one of the nine colleges of Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), is the first and largest technical college in the world for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Established by U.S. federal legislation in 1965, NTID…

Pedagogic Culture(also: Pedagogical Culture)

The ecosystem of shared debate, investigation, evaluation, and knowledge exchange that supports excellence in teaching and learning within a discipline. A healthy pedagogic culture involves systematic research into how subjects are taught, cross-citation and dialogue among…

Pedagogical Content Knowledge(also: PCK)

A concept from educational research referring to the intersection between a teacher's general pedagogical expertise (how to teach) and the specific content knowledge of their discipline (what to teach). In accessibility education, PCK encompasses understanding not only the…

Research Experiences for Undergraduates(also: REU, REU Program, REU Supplement)

A U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) funding program that supports active research participation by undergraduate students in areas funded by NSF. REU awards fund either dedicated REU Sites — cohorts of undergraduates hosted by a host institution for a summer research…

Sociocultural Learning Theory(also: Sociocultural Theory, Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory)

A theory of learning developed by Lev Vygotsky that argues cognitive development and knowledge acquisition are fundamentally social, mediated by language, culture, and interaction with more knowledgeable others. Key concepts include the zone of proximal development (the gap…

Socratic Questioning

A disciplined, dialogue-based teaching method that uses probing questions to help learners examine assumptions, consider alternatives, and reason through problems rather than receive direct answers. Named after the philosopher Socrates, it is widely used in critical-thinking…

Structured Walkthrough(also: Guided Walkthrough, Accessibility Walkthrough)

An accessibility evaluation method in which an evaluator is guided through a systematic series of checks using predefined steps, instructions, and heuristics. Unlike a full WCAG conformance review which requires expert knowledge to interpret success criteria, a structured…

TeachAccess(also: Teach Access, TeachAccess initiative)

A US-based initiative co-founded in 2015 by technology companies, universities, and disability organisations to integrate accessibility into the curricula of computer science, design, and related disciplines. TeachAccess develops teaching materials, study-abroad programmes,…

Tiered Mentoring(also: Near-Peer Mentoring, Cascade Mentoring)

A mentoring structure in which learners at several stages of development work together, so that each participant has a role model who is only one step ahead of them rather than many. In a tiered model applied to research labs, for example, high-school students are mentored by…

WebAIM(also: Web Accessibility In Mind)

WebAIM (Web Accessibility In Mind) is a non-profit organization based at the Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University, founded in 1999 and recognized internationally as a leading provider of web accessibility expertise, training, and tooling. WebAIM produces…

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