Glossary

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AI disability representation(also: AI disability simulation, Disability representation in AI)

The portrayal or simulation of disabled experiences, communication styles, or perspectives by artificial intelligence systems. AI disability representation raises significant ethical concerns: while AI can make disability awareness training more scalable and interactive, it…

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…

Ableist Microaggressions Scale(also: AMS)

A validated measurement instrument developed by Conover, Israel, and Nylund-Gibson (2017) to systematically assess the frequency and impact of subtle, everyday expressions of ableism. The AMS organises disability microaggressions into four empirically supported domains —…

Ableist microaggression(also: Disability microaggression, Casual ableism)

A subtle, often unintentional comment, question, or behavior that communicates hostile, derogatory, or negative assumptions about disability. Examples include unsolicited compliments on "bravery" for performing routine tasks, expressions of surprise at a disabled person's…

Academic Ableism

Systemic discrimination against disabled people within academic institutions and research practices. In higher education, academic ableism manifests through inaccessible learning environments, expectations of productivity that do not account for disability, and research…

Academic Accessibility(also: Accessibility in academia, Scholarly accessibility)

The degree to which the tools, publications, venues, and institutional practices of academic research and higher education are usable by disabled students, faculty, and researchers. Academic accessibility spans scholarly PDFs and figures, reference and qualitative-analysis…

Access Barrier(also: Accessibility Barrier, Barrier to Access)

Any obstacle that prevents or diminishes a disabled person's ability to complete a task, participate in an activity, or access information. Access barriers are not limited to complete inability (failure points) but also include situations where tasks can be completed but with…

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…

Access Work(also: Access Labour)

The often invisible labor that disabled people and their allies perform to negotiate, secure, and maintain access to spaces, services, and activities. Access work includes tasks such as researching accommodations, communicating needs, navigating institutional processes, and…

Access as Friction

A disability-studies framing, articulated by Jackson, Haagaard, and Williams, that reframes accessibility work as productive friction rather than seamless accommodation. Rather than smoothing every interaction, "access as friction" calls for designs that make users pause,…

Adaptive Behavior(also: Adaptive Skills, Adaptive Functioning)

The collection of conceptual, social, and practical skills that people learn and perform in everyday life. Conceptual skills include language, literacy, and self-direction; social skills encompass interpersonal abilities and social responsibility; practical skills involve…

Adventitious blindness(also: Acquired blindness, Late blindness, Acquired visual impairment)

Vision loss that occurs after a period of sighted experience, as opposed to congenital blindness (present from birth). People with adventitious blindness retain visual memories, mental imagery, and familiarity with visual concepts like color and spatial layout, which…

Aesthetic Blindness

Aesthetic blindness is a myth and misconception rooted in ableism that assumes blind people cannot perceive, appreciate, or create beauty because beauty is rendered solely through visual means. This assumption has historically led to the exclusion of blind and low vision people…

Agency(also: User Agency, Sense of Agency)

The capacity to act, make choices, and exert control over one's own life and environment. In disability studies, agency is distinguished from independence — a person can have agency (the ability to make decisions and direct actions) while still relying on others for support,…

Allistic(also: Non-Autistic)

A term used to describe people who are not autistic, regardless of whether they are neurotypical in other respects. The term was created within autistic communities to provide a specific counterpart to "autistic" that does not frame autism as deviation from a norm. Using…

Ask-Point(also: Help Request Point)

Ask-point is a term introduced in disability-and-HCI research to name a discrete moment in daily life at which a person with a disability must request help from a caregiver, family member, or other person — for example, reaching for a dropped object, opening a door, transferring…

AuDHD(also: Autism and ADHD co-occurrence)

A term used by the neurodivergent community to describe the co-occurrence of autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in the same individual. Research suggests significant overlap between the two conditions, with estimates indicating that 50-70% of…

Autistic Sociality(also: Autistic Social Interaction, Atypical Sociality)

The distinct ways in which autistic people form social connections, build community, and engage in relationships — which differ from neurotypical social norms but are not deficient. Autistic sociality may emphasize shared interests over personal relationships, prefer text-based…

Aversive Disablism(also: Aversive Ableism, Subtle Disablism)

Aversive disablism is a concept from disability studies, developed by Mark Deal, describing a form of subtle, often unconscious prejudice toward disabled people. Aversive disablists recognize that discrimination is wrong and do not see themselves as prejudiced, yet they hold…

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