Glossary

Terms used in accessibility research and practice. Each entry has a definition, common aliases, and category tags.

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Accessible Fabrication(also: Accessible Making, Accessible Digital Fabrication): Accessible fabrication refers to the design and use of digital fabrication tools — such as 3D printers, laser cutters, and CNC machines — in ways that are usable by people with disabilities and that produce accessible outputs. This includes making the fabrication tools…
Accessible Making(also: Accessible Fabrication, Inclusive Making): The practice and research area focused on ensuring that maker activities—including digital fabrication, crafting, and DIY projects—are accessible to people with disabilities. This encompasses three related concepts: making assistive technologies accessible (ensuring disabled…
Bespoke Design(also: Custom Design, Bespoke Assistive Technology): The creation of individually tailored products or solutions made to meet the specific needs of a single user, as opposed to mass-produced or universally designed items. In assistive technology, bespoke design addresses the reality that every person's combination of abilities,…
Brave Space: A community or environment where people are encouraged to step outside their comfort zones, approach their limits, and try new things while being supported by those around them — as opposed to a "safe space" focused primarily on comfort and protection. In makerspaces and…
Bricolage: Bricolage is the practice of creating something from whatever materials happen to be at hand — duct tape, pool noodles, velcro strips, PVC pipes, household fabric scraps, bent sponges — rather than purpose-designed parts or specialized tools. The term, from Lévi-Strauss via…
DIY Accessibility(also: Do-It-Yourself Accessibility, Grassroots Accessibility): An approach in which disabled people, their families, or proximate makers design and fabricate their own accessible artefacts—assistive tools, tactile labels, adapted clothing, switch-accessible toys—outside institutional assistive-technology supply chains, often using…
DIY Assistive Technology(also: DIY-AT, Do-It-Yourself Assistive Technology): Assistive technology that is designed, fabricated, or modified by individuals, communities, or non-commercial entities rather than purchased from commercial manufacturers. DIY-AT often uses accessible fabrication methods like 3D printing to create customized, low-cost solutions…
DIY Assistive Technology(also: Do-It-Yourself Assistive Technology, Maker Assistive Technology): DIY assistive technology refers to the practice of creating, modifying, or adapting assistive devices and tools through do-it-yourself methods, often using digital fabrication technologies such as 3D printers and laser cutters. This approach empowers people with disabilities,…
Digital Embroidery(also: Computerised Embroidery, Machine Embroidery): Fabrication of stitched patterns on fabric using a computer-controlled embroidery machine that reads a digitised design file (e.g., DST, EXP) and drives a needle to produce precise, repeatable stitches. In accessibility work, digital embroidery is used to build tactile textile…
Digital Fabrication(also: Digital Manufacturing): The process of creating physical objects from digital designs using computer-controlled manufacturing tools such as 3D printers, laser cutters, and CNC mills. Digital fabrication has democratized the production of assistive technology by enabling non-specialists to create…
Digital Fabrication(also: Digital Manufacturing, Rapid Prototyping): Digital fabrication encompasses manufacturing processes that use computer-controlled tools to create physical objects from digital designs. Common tools include laser cutters, 3D printers, and CNC routers. In accessibility contexts, digital fabrication enables the creation of…
Hackability: A methodology and design philosophy for encouraging DIY assistive technology development in which disabled people, allies, and professionals collaboratively hack, adapt, and remix existing objects into personalized assistive solutions. Hackability events bring together makers…
Hackathon(also: Accessibility Hackathon, Makeathon, ATHack): A time-limited event (typically hours to days) where participants collaborate intensively to design and build technology solutions, often as prototypes or proofs of concept. Accessibility hackathons specifically focus on creating assistive technologies, but they have been…
Hybrid Craft(also: Digital Craft, Computational Craft): A making practice that combines traditional hand-craft techniques (embroidery, weaving, quilting, ceramics, woodworking) with digital fabrication tools such as computerised embroidery machines, laser cutters, or 3D printers. In accessibility and HCI research, hybrid craft is…
Laser Cutter(also: CO2 Laser Cutter): A digital fabrication machine that uses a focused laser beam to cut or engrave flat materials such as wood, acrylic, cardboard, leather, and some plastics. Along with 3D printers and CNC routers, laser cutters are a core tool in makerspaces and community fabrication labs, and…
Maker Culture(also: Maker Movement, DIY Culture): A technology-influenced extension of DIY culture that emphasizes learning through hands-on making, often using digital fabrication tools like 3D printers, laser cutters, and microcontrollers alongside traditional crafts. Makerspaces provide shared access to tools and community.…
Maker Movement: A cultural trend emphasizing hands-on creation, DIY fabrication, and open sharing of designs and knowledge, often centered around community workshops and digital fabrication tools. The maker movement has significant implications for accessibility, as it enables individuals and…
Makers Making Change(also: MMC): Makers Making Change is a Canadian non-profit program (part of the Neil Squire Society) that connects volunteer makers with people with disabilities to design, 3D-print, and distribute low-cost, open-source assistive technology. It hosts a library of freely downloadable AT…
Makerspace(also: Fab Lab, Fabrication Laboratory, Hackerspace): A collaborative workspace equipped with tools and technology for designing and fabricating physical objects, typically including 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC machines, and electronics workbenches. University and community makerspaces have become important sites for assistive…
Makey Makey: A small electronic invention kit that uses alligator clips to connect everyday conductive objects — fruit, foil, playdough, drawn pencil lines — to a computer, which sees them as keyboard presses or mouse clicks. Created by Jay Silver and Eric Rosenbaum at the MIT Media Lab,…
Medical Maker(also: Clinician-Maker): A healthcare professional who also engages in fabrication and making activities, bridging the gap between clinical expertise and maker culture. Medical makers combine knowledge of patient safety, rehabilitation, and medical requirements with hands-on skills in 3D printing,…
Open-Source Hardware(also: OSHW): Physical devices and components whose design specifications are publicly available for anyone to study, modify, distribute, and manufacture. In the assistive technology space, open-source hardware enables global sharing of device designs that communities can adapt to local needs…
Personal-Scale Manufacturing(also: Desktop Manufacturing, Personal Fabrication): The use of affordable, accessible manufacturing tools such as 3D printers, laser cutters, and CNC machines by individuals or small groups to produce custom physical objects, as opposed to relying on industrial-scale production. In the context of assistive technology,…
Printed Circuit Board(also: PCB): A printed circuit board (PCB) is a flat board, typically made of fibreglass-reinforced epoxy laminate with copper traces, that mechanically supports and electrically connects electronic components. PCBs are the standard substrate of nearly all modern electronics, from consumer…
Right to Repair: A movement advocating for consumers' ability to repair, modify, and maintain their own devices and equipment, including access to diagnostic information, repair manuals, and replacement parts. For people with disabilities, right to repair is especially significant because…
Tatreez(also: Palestinian Cross-Stitch, Palestinian Embroidery): A traditional Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery practice, inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2021, in which motifs encode regional identity, family history, and social status through colour and geometric pattern. In accessibility…
Thingiverse: An online repository for sharing user-created digital design files, primarily for 3D printing. Thingiverse hosts a large collection of freely downloadable STL files, including many assistive technology designs. DIY-AT programs often source device designs from Thingiverse and…
e-NABLE(also: Enabling the Future): A global volunteer network founded in 2013 that uses 3D printing to produce free, customizable upper-limb prosthetic devices — primarily for children with limb differences who outgrow conventional prosthetics quickly. e-NABLE connects makers, designers, medical professionals,…

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