Glossary

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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…

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…

Co-Making(also: Co-Fabrication, Collaborative Making)

Co-making is a participatory practice in which people with disabilities work directly with collaborators — researchers, AI assistants, peers, or family members — to build physical assistive technology together, rather than being passive recipients of devices designed and…

DIY AAC(also: Do-It-Yourself AAC, Self-Made AAC, Bespoke AAC)

Augmentative and alternative communication tools created or significantly customized by the users themselves rather than prescribed by clinicians or purchased as commercial products. DIY AAC ranges from low-tech solutions like handmade communication diaries and picture boards to…

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: 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,…

Design for User Empowerment(also: DfUE, Empowerment-Oriented Design)

A design philosophy that prioritizes giving users — particularly people with disabilities — the skills, tools, and agency to create, modify, and customize their own technology solutions rather than being passive recipients of products designed for them. Design for User…

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…

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…

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…

Medical Making(also: Clinical Making)

The practice of clinicians — particularly occupational therapists, physical therapists, and physicians — creating custom assistive devices for their patients using digital fabrication tools such as 3D printers and CAD software. Medical making extends traditional splinting and…

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,…

Power-Assist Add-On(also: Power Assist, Power-Assist Device, Wheelchair Power Assist)

A power-assist add-on is a retrofit device attached to a manual wheelchair that provides motorized propulsion while preserving the chair's manual structure, offering a middle ground between manual and full power wheelchairs. Commercial examples include the SmartDrive, Firefly,…

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…

Upper-Limb Prosthetic(also: Upper Limb Prosthesis, Arm Prosthetic, Hand Prosthetic)

A prosthetic device that replaces or augments part or all of a missing upper limb — fingers, hand, wrist, forearm, or full arm. Upper-limb prosthetics range from passive cosmetic devices and body-powered cable-driven hands to externally powered myoelectric systems that read…

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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