Glossary

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Boundary Objects(also: Boundary Object)

A concept from Star and Griesemer (1989) describing artifacts that are structured enough to be understood by different social worlds but flexible enough to be interpreted differently by each one, allowing cooperation across communities without forced consensus. In accessibility…

Civil Inattention

A social behavior theorized by sociologist Erving Goffman describing how strangers in public spaces acknowledge each other's presence through brief eye contact or a nod, then deliberately look away to respect personal boundaries. Civil inattention is a form of unfocused…

Complex Adaptive System(also: CAS)

A system composed of many interconnected, diverse components that interact and adapt in response to each other and their environment, producing emergent behaviors that cannot be predicted from the properties of individual parts. Education systems, healthcare systems, and the Web…

Connected Learning

A culturally-embedded learning paradigm developed by Mizŭko Ito and colleagues that frames rich learning as emerging from interest-driven, peer-supported, and academically-oriented activities across a network of everyday settings — including online affinity communities, fandoms,…

Crip Theory(also: Crip, Crip Technoscience)

An academic and activist framework that reclaims "crip" as a positive identity term, challenging normative assumptions about disability, ability, and bodily difference. Emerging from queer theory and disability studies, crip theory questions compulsory able-bodiedness and…

Culturally-Situated Design(also: Culturally-Embedded Design, Culturally-Responsive Design)

An approach to technology design that treats culture — including national identity, religion, ethnicity, language, geo-politics, and community traditions — as central to user needs and design decisions rather than as a surface localisation concern. Culturally-situated design…

Cyborg Theory(also: Cyborg Manifesto)

A theoretical lens originating in Donna Haraway’s 1985 "A Cyborg Manifesto" that views technology as an integrated extension of human cognitive and bodily capabilities rather than as a separate tool. In disability and neurodiversity studies, cyborg theory reframes assistive…

Deaf Epistemology(also: Deaf Ways of Knowing)

A body of theory and practice that recognizes Deaf communities as producers of distinct knowledge grounded in visual-spatial modalities, embodied interaction, sign language, and community experience. Deaf epistemologies foreground visual primacy, sightlines, and shared cultural…

Disability Expertise

The concept that disabled people hold specialized, experiential knowledge about their own conditions, access needs, and the social environments they navigate — knowledge that non-disabled researchers, clinicians, and designers cannot replicate without engagement. Disability…

Double empathy problem(also: Double empathy theory)

A theory proposed by Damian Milton (2012) that reframes communication difficulties between autistic and neurotypical individuals as arising from a mutual lack of understanding rather than a deficit in autistic people alone. The double empathy problem challenges the dominant…

Ecological Systems Theory(also: Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Model, Bioecological Model)

A developmental psychology framework created by Urie Bronfenbrenner that describes how individuals are influenced by multiple nested environmental systems: the microsystem (immediate settings like home and work), mesosystem (connections between microsystems), exosystem (indirect…

Embodied Cognition(also: Embodiment)

A theory in cognitive science proposing that the mind is not an isolated entity but is deeply integrated with the body's sensorimotor systems. In other words, how we think, perceive, and make decisions is shaped by our physical bodies and their interactions with the environment.…

Hofstede Cultural Dimensions(also: Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions, Hofstede Model)

A framework by social psychologist Geert Hofstede characterising national cultures along dimensions such as Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Individualism versus Collectivism, Masculinity versus Femininity, and Time Orientation. It has been used extensively in…

Intersectionality(also: Intersectional analysis)

A theoretical framework originated by Kimberlé Crenshaw recognizing that individuals hold multiple social identities (disability, race, gender, class, sexuality) that interact to produce unique experiences of privilege and oppression that cannot be understood by examining any…

Ocular normativity(also: Ocularcentrism, Ocular norm, Visual normativity)

A concept from critical disability studies describing the cultural assumption that sight is the primary, most reliable, and most natural mode of knowing and perceiving the world. Ocular normativity positions visual interaction as the default and universal way to engage with…

Post-Modern Model of Disability(also: Postmodern Model, Critical Disability Model)

A framework for understanding disability that integrates aspects of both the medical and social models, recognizing that both physiological factors and social barriers contribute to the experience of disability. Unlike the medical model (which locates disability in the…

Situated action(also: Situated cognition, Situated practice)

A theoretical framework from sociology and HCI holding that human actions and decisions are fundamentally shaped by the specific social, material, and temporal context in which they occur, rather than being pre-planned or rule-following. In explainable AI design, situated action…

Social Cognitive Theory(also: SCT, Social learning theory)

A psychological framework developed by Albert Bandura that explains how people learn through observing others, building self-efficacy, and interacting with their social environment. In the context of accessibility and digital literacy, SCT provides a foundation for designing…

Third place

A sociological concept coined by Ray Oldenburg describing informal social gathering spaces beyond the home (first place) and workplace (second place), such as cafes, parks, community centers, or clubs. Third places are characterized by inclusivity, voluntary participation, low…

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