Glossary

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Relative Virtuosity

A concept from performance studies arguing that what constitutes a virtuoso performance cannot be separated from the social and material expectations around non-normative bodies. For disabled performers, virtuosity is shaped by how their bodies interact with the world, their…

Relaxed Scoping(also: Flexible Scoping)

A voice navigation strategy that allows users to name any target on the screen directly without first navigating through a hierarchy. Relaxed scoping prioritizes efficiency by enabling single-command access to interface elements, but it increases the potential for target…

Relevance Scoring(also: Task Relevance Score, Content Relevance Rating)

The assignment of numerical scores to web page elements indicating how relevant they are to a user's specified task or goal. In systems like Task Mode, relevance scores typically range from 0 (completely irrelevant) to 100 (critical to the task), assigned by large language…

Relevance Threshold(also: Filtering Threshold, Display Threshold)

A user-adjustable cutoff value that determines which content elements are displayed or hidden based on their relevance scores. Elements scoring above the threshold are shown; those below are de-emphasized or removed. Relevance thresholds provide users with agency over how…

Relief Chart(also: 3D Chart, Haptic Chart, Relief Graph)

A tactile data visualization that uses height (the third dimension) to encode data values, making charts accessible to people with visual impairments through touch. Unlike flat tactile graphics that use only texture or raised lines, relief charts represent data magnitude through…

Remediation(also: Accessibility Remediation, Barrier Remediation)

The process of identifying and fixing accessibility barriers in existing digital content, tools, or platforms after they have been created or deployed. Remediation is typically a reactive approach to accessibility, addressing problems found through audits or user complaints.…

Reminder System(also: Prompting System, Cognitive Prosthetic)

An assistive technology that provides timely cues, alerts, or step-by-step prompts to support task completion for people with memory or executive function difficulties. Reminder systems can range from simple timer-based alerts to sophisticated context-aware systems that track…

Reminiscence(also: Reminiscing, Life Review)

The process of recalling and sharing past experiences, often prompted by sensory cues like photographs, music, or familiar objects. For people with dementia, reminiscence can be more accessible than discussing current events because long-term memories are often better preserved…

Reminiscence(also: Reminiscence Therapy)

The process of recalling and reflecting on past personal experiences, often used therapeutically to promote mental well-being in older adults. Reminiscence therapy involves structured activities that trigger memories through sensory cues, familiar locations, music, or…

Reminiscence Therapy(also: Reminiscence-Based Therapy, Life Review Therapy)

A non-pharmacological therapeutic approach for people with dementia that uses artifacts, photographs, music, and other personally meaningful materials to stimulate recall of past experiences and prompt conversation about life events. Reminiscence therapy aims to maintain the…

Reminiscence therapy(also: Reminiscence, Life review therapy, Memory sharing)

A therapeutic intervention widely used with older adults and people with dementia that involves the structured recall and sharing of personal memories and life experiences, often supported by prompts such as photographs, music, objects, or — increasingly — digital technologies.…

Remnant book(also: remnant scrapbook, memory book)

An AAC strategy that uses collected physical artifacts—such as ticket stubs, photos, business cards, and other tangible items—organized in a book or album to support communication for people with aphasia or other cognitive-communication disorders. Remnant books leverage…

Remote Accessibility Assessment(also: Virtual Accessibility Assessment, Pre-Visit Accessibility Check)

The practice of evaluating the physical accessibility of an unfamiliar environment without being physically present. Wheelchair users and others with mobility disabilities routinely assess spaces in advance to avoid dangerous, inaccessible, or frustrating situations. Current…

Remote Assistance(also: Remote Sighted Assistance, Visual Interpreting)

A service model where people who are blind or have low vision connect with sighted volunteers or trained agents via a live video call to receive real-time visual descriptions and guidance. Services like Be My Eyes and Aira use smartphone cameras to share the user's environment…

Remote Captioning(also: Remote CART, Remote Real-Time Captioning)

A live captioning service delivered at a distance, in which a human captioner (CART provider) or automatic speech recognition system receives an audio feed from a meeting, classroom, or event over the internet or a phone line and transmits transcribed text back to the user in…

Remote Classroom(also: Virtual Classroom, Distance Learning Classroom)

A learning environment in which instructors and learners are geographically separated and connected through video, screen-sharing, and communication channels that approximate in-person teaching. Effective remote classrooms for accessibility purposes typically combine a main…

Remote Desktop Software(also: Remote Access Software, Remote Control Software)

Software that allows a user to access and control one computer from another device over a network, displaying the remote computer's screen and relaying input commands. In accessibility contexts, remote desktop software serves as an unexpected but powerful assistive technology…

Remote Interpretation(also: Remote Sign Language Interpreting, Distance Interpreting)

The provision of sign language or spoken language interpretation services through technology platforms that use live video streaming, allowing the interpreter to work from a different location than the participants. Remote interpretation encompasses both video remote…

Remote Monitoring(also: Remote Patient Monitoring, RPM, Remote Care Monitoring)

Remote monitoring is the collection of health, activity, or environmental data from a person in their own home or community setting and its transmission to carers, clinicians, or family members at a distance. In a disability and ageing context, remote monitoring overlaps…

Remote Sighted Assistance(also: Remote Visual Assistance, Visual Interpreting, Remote Sighted Guide)

A service model in which a sighted person provides real-time visual information to a blind or visually impaired person remotely, typically through a smartphone video call. The blind user points their phone camera at what they need help with, and the sighted helper describes what…

Remote Usability Testing(also: Remote User Study, Remote User Evaluation)

Usability testing conducted with participants in their own homes or workplaces rather than in a research lab, typically using video conferencing, screen sharing, or other remote communication tools. Remote methods became especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic and…

Remote interpreting(also: Video remote interpreting, VRI, Remote sign language interpreting)

The provision of sign language interpretation or other communication access services through video technology, where the interpreter is located in a different physical space from the deaf or hard of hearing person. Remote interpreting uses networked video connections to link…

Remote sighted assistance(also: RSA, Visual interpreting service)

A service connecting blind or visually impaired individuals with sighted helpers through live video calls, enabling real-time visual guidance for everyday tasks. Services like Be My Eyes (volunteer-based), Aira (professional agents), and similar platforms allow BVI users to…

Remote therapy(also: Teletherapy, Telepractice, Telerehabilitation)

The delivery of therapeutic interventions — including speech therapy, occupational therapy, and rehabilitation — through technology-mediated communication rather than exclusively in-person sessions. Remote therapy systems typically combine a client-facing application (often…

Renarration(also: Content Renarration, Web Renarration)

The process of re-telling, re-presenting, or re-styling existing web content to make it accessible to new audiences who face barriers the original content was not designed to address. Renarration goes beyond traditional accessibility remediation by enabling transformations that…

Repair Mechanism(also: Conversational Repair)

In conversational interface design, a feature that helps the user and the system recover from misrecognition, ambiguity, or misunderstanding — for example, clarification prompts ("Did you mean the [X] cricket match?"), visible candidate lists, or "try again" affordances that…

Repeat Keys(also: Key Repeat Delay)

An operating system accessibility feature that controls how long a key must be held down before it begins to repeat, and how quickly it repeats once started. For users with motor disabilities who unintentionally hold keys down longer than intended, Repeat Keys allows the delay…

Repetitive Questioning(also: Perseverative Questioning)

A behavioural symptom of dementia, particularly Alzheimer's disease, in which a person repeatedly asks the same question over and over, often within short time intervals. Repetitive questioning can stem from short-term memory loss (not remembering the answer or having asked),…

Repetitive Strain Injury(also: RSI, Repetitive motion injury, Overuse injury)

A category of injuries affecting muscles, tendons, and nerves caused by repetitive movements, sustained awkward postures, or overuse of a body part. In the context of accessibility, repetitive strain injuries are a significant concern for manual wheelchair users, who experience…

Repetitive Stress Injury(also: RSI, Repetitive Strain Injury, Repetitive Motion Injury)

A group of conditions caused by repetitive movements, forceful exertions, or sustained awkward postures over extended periods, resulting in damage to muscles, tendons, nerves, or other soft tissues. In computing contexts, RSI commonly affects the hands, wrists, arms, shoulders,…

Replika

Replika is a commercial AI companion app, launched by Luka Inc. in 2017, that offers users a customisable digital avatar designed to 'develop its own personality' through conversational interaction. Users can shape the avatar's appearance, relationship type (friend, mentor,…

Repository Mining(also: Software Repository Mining, Mining Software Repositories)

A research methodology that involves extracting and analysing data from software repositories such as version control systems, bug trackers, code-sharing platforms, and Q&A sites like Stack Overflow. In accessibility research, repository mining has been used to assess whether…

Representational Transformation(also: representation transformation, accessibility transformation)

Representational transformation is the process of modifying or re-creating a shared information artifact (such as a document, spreadsheet, diagram, or slideshow) to make it accessible to team members who cannot perceive or operate the original form. In mixed-ability teams,…

Representational harm(also: Representational bias)

A category of harm caused by AI systems that perpetuate or amplify negative stereotypes, demeaning portrayals, or erasure of particular social groups, distinct from allocative harms that deny resources or opportunities. In disability contexts, representational harms occur when…

Representative Sampling(also: Representative Page Sampling)

In web accessibility auditing, the practice of selecting a subset of pages from a website that statistically reflects the full site, so that evaluation findings can be generalised to pages not directly audited. WCAG-EM requires that a 'representative sample' be included…

Representative Users(also: Target Users, Intended Users)

Study participants who share the relevant characteristics of the population for whom a technology or solution is being designed. In accessibility research, this means including people with the actual disabilities being addressed rather than substitutes like blindfolded sighted…

Requirements Gathering(also: Requirements Elicitation, Needs Assessment)

The process of collecting and documenting the needs, constraints, and expectations of users and stakeholders to inform the design of a technology system or product. In accessibility and assistive technology contexts, requirements gathering poses unique challenges: target users…

Requirements engineering(also: RE, Requirements elicitation)

Requirements engineering (RE) is the systematic process of identifying, documenting, analysing, and managing the needs and constraints that a software system must satisfy. It encompasses elicitation techniques (interviews, workshops, prototyping, observation), specification…

Research Ethics(also: Ethics in Research)

The principles and practices governing the responsible conduct of research, including informed consent, minimizing harm, protecting privacy, and ensuring equitable treatment of participants. In disability research, ethics considerations include power dynamics between researchers…

Research Experiences for Undergraduates(also: REU, REU Program, REU Supplement)

A U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) funding program that supports active research participation by undergraduate students in areas funded by NSF. REU awards fund either dedicated REU Sites — cohorts of undergraduates hosted by a host institution for a summer research…

Research Fatigue(also: Participant Fatigue, Community Research Fatigue)

The exhaustion or disengagement experienced by individuals or communities that are repeatedly recruited for research studies, particularly when they see little benefit or change resulting from their participation. In disability communities, research fatigue is a growing concern…

Research Probe(also: Design Research Probe, Technology Probe)

A purpose-built, partially functional artefact — often a software prototype, sensor, or interactive installation — deployed in a study not primarily to deliver a finished product but to provoke reflection, surface user needs, and generate design insight. Distinct from cultural…

Research Through Design(also: RtD)

A research methodology in which the design process itself serves as a mode of inquiry, generating knowledge through the iterative creation and evaluation of artifacts, systems, or experiences. Unlike traditional research that studies existing phenomena, Research Through Design…

Research reciprocity(also: Participatory reciprocity)

The principle that research participation should be a mutually beneficial exchange in which participants gain value — such as social connection, learning opportunities, a sense of contributing to knowledge, or direct improvements to their lives — rather than being treated solely…

Research-through-Design(also: RtD)

A research methodology, articulated by Zimmerman, Forlizzi, and Evenson (2007), in which the act of designing artefacts is itself the mode of inquiry. Knowledge is produced through iterative cycles of prototyping, deployment, evaluation, and reflection, and is typically…

Researcher Bias(also: Investigator Bias)

The influence of a researcher's own perspectives, assumptions, and identity on how they design studies, ask questions, and interpret data. In accessibility research, researcher bias can manifest when non-disabled researchers position themselves as saviors, frame questions based…

Residential Care(also: Care Home, Nursing Home, Long-Term Care Facility)

A facility that provides housing, personal care, and support services for individuals who cannot live independently due to age, disability, or health conditions. Residential care settings range from assisted living facilities offering minimal support to skilled nursing…

Residential School(also: Boarding School)

An educational institution where students live on campus during the school term, receiving both education and residential care. In India, many schools for the blind operate as residential schools, with students living at the school away from their families. Residential schools…

Residual Category(also: Residual Categories)

A concept from Susan Leigh Star describing the "other" or "not applicable" categories in classification systems — the bucket where anything that does not fit predefined types gets placed. Individuals sorted into residual categories become illegible to the systems that grant…

Residual Vision(also: Remaining Vision, Useful Vision)

The vision that remains after an eye condition has caused partial vision loss. Most people classified as having low vision retain some useful residual vision and prefer to use it for observing and interacting with their environment. Low-vision rehabilitation adopts an…