Glossary

Search results

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…

CODA(also: Child of Deaf Adults, Children of Deaf Adults)

An acronym for Child of Deaf Adults, referring to a hearing person who was raised by one or more Deaf parents. CODAs typically grow up bilingual and bicultural, fluent in both a sign language and a spoken language, and often serve as cultural bridges between Deaf and hearing…

Camouflaging(also: Masking, Social Camouflage, Autistic Masking)

Camouflaging, also known as masking, is the conscious or unconscious suppression of autistic traits and adoption of neurotypical behaviors in order to fit into social situations. This can include forcing eye contact, suppressing stimming, rehearsing social scripts, and imitating…

Deaf(also: deaf, Big-D Deaf)

A term with dual meaning in accessibility contexts: lowercase "deaf" refers to the audiological condition of having significant hearing loss, while uppercase "Deaf" refers to cultural identity and membership in the Deaf community, which has its own language, values, and social…

Deaf Community(also: Deaf World, Signing Community)

A cultural and linguistic community of people who are Deaf or hard of hearing and who share a common language (typically a sign language), cultural values, traditions, and social norms. The Deaf community is distinguished from the broader population of people with hearing loss…

Deaf Gain

A reframing concept that positions Deafness not as a loss (hearing loss) but as a gain — emphasizing the unique contributions, perspectives, and capabilities that Deaf individuals and Deaf culture bring to human diversity. Coined by H-Dirksen Bauman and Joseph Murray, Deaf Gain…

Deafhood

A concept introduced by Paddy Ladd that reframes Deaf identity as a process of becoming and self-actualization rather than a medical condition to be fixed. Deafhood emphasizes the possibilities and richness of Deaf experience, culture, and language, explicitly rejecting…

Disability Culture(also: Crip Culture)

Disability culture encompasses the shared experiences, values, art, language, humor, and traditions that have developed among people with disabilities as a distinct social group. It includes disability art, literature, music, film, and performance, as well as communal practices…

Disabled Joy(also: Disability Joy, Crip Joy)

Disabled joy refers to the positive experiences, pleasures, and sources of happiness that arise from or are connected to living as a disabled person. This includes pride in disability identity, the richness of disability community and culture, the creativity born of adapting to…

Late Deafened(also: Adventitiously Deaf, Acquired Deafness)

Late deafened refers to individuals who became deaf after developing spoken language, typically in adolescence or adulthood. Unlike people who are born deaf or become deaf in early childhood, late-deafened individuals often grew up in hearing culture with spoken language as…

Sociotechnical Identity

The aspect of personal identity that is constructed and expressed through the technologies a person uses. In assistive technology research, sociotechnical identity refers to how AT serves as a vehicle conveying both functional ability and social identity. The concept recognizes…

Special Interest(also: Hyperfocus Interest, Intense Interest)

A special interest is a deep, focused, and often long-lasting passion for a specific topic, activity, or subject area, commonly experienced by autistic individuals. Special interests go beyond typical hobbies in their intensity and depth of knowledge, and they can be a source of…

Translated Deaf Self

A concept coined by Alys Young, Jemina Napier, and Rosemary Oram describing how deaf signers' lifelong experiences of being encountered, represented, and inter-subjectively known by others occur in a translated form. The term captures the ontological consequences of routine…

Transphobia(also: Anti-Transgender Prejudice, Anti-Trans Bias)

Transphobia refers to prejudice, discrimination, and hostility directed at people who are transgender, non-binary, or whose gender identity or expression differs from their sex assigned at birth. In digital accessibility and technology contexts, transphobia manifests through AI…

d/Deaf(also: Deaf, deaf, Big D Deaf)

A convention used to distinguish between two meanings of the word deaf. Uppercase "Deaf" refers to people who identify as culturally Deaf and are part of the Deaf community, sharing a common language (sign language), values, and social norms. Lowercase "deaf" is an audiological…

15 results.