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Cultural Taxation(also: Minority Tax, Identity Taxation)

The unpaid or under-recognised additional labour expected of faculty and staff from marginalised groups — including Deaf, disabled, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ individuals — to serve as cultural ambassadors, mentors, committee members, and educational resources for their colleagues and…

Culturally Appropriate Design(also: Culturally Responsive Design, Cultural Contextualization)

The practice of designing products, interfaces, and content to align with the cultural values, practices, languages, and visual conventions of the target user community. In assistive technology, culturally appropriate design requires that symbols, images, vocabulary, and…

Culturally Grounded Design(also: Culturally Responsive Design, Culture-Centered Design)

A design approach that centers the cultural values, epistemologies, and practices of a specific community throughout the technology development process. Rather than adapting mainstream designs for different cultural contexts, culturally grounded design starts from community…

Culturally Responsive Computing(also: Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in Computing, Culturally Relevant Computing)

A pedagogical approach to computing education that grounds instruction in learners' cultural, linguistic, and socio-economic realities rather than treating Global North curricula and technologies as universally applicable. Building on Ladson-Billings' culturally relevant…

Culturally Responsive Design(also: Culturally Sensitive Design, Culture-Centered Design)

Culturally responsive design is an approach to creating products, services, and research methods that respects and incorporates the cultural values, practices, and communication norms of the communities they are intended to serve. In accessibility, this is particularly relevant…

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…

Culture of Accessibility

An organizational or institutional environment in which accessibility is embedded as a core value throughout all processes, practices, and products rather than treated as an afterthought or compliance requirement. In educational contexts, a culture of accessibility means…

Cumulative Link Mixed Model(also: CLMM, Ordinal Mixed Model)

A statistical model for analysing ordinal outcome data (such as Likert-scale ratings) that includes both fixed effects (experimental conditions) and random effects (participants, stimuli). CLMMs use a link function — commonly logit — to relate ordered categorical responses to…

Cumulative Marginality(also: Stacked Stressors, Intersecting Disadvantage)

The compounding effect of multiple marginalizing factors—such as disability, low income, first-generation student status, racial minority status, or caregiving responsibilities—that together create greater barriers than any single factor alone. Research shows that students…

Curation(also: Content Curation, Accessibility Curation)

The process of selecting, organizing, and presenting digital content or resources to serve a particular audience or purpose. In accessibility contexts, curation refers to the proactive work of identifying web content that presents barriers and creating alternative, accessible…

Curator(also: Museum Curator, Exhibition Curator, Art Curator)

A professional responsible for the selection, arrangement, interpretation, and presentation of works in museums, galleries, and exhibitions. The curatorial role has expanded from its original function of preservation and management to encompass audience research, technology…

Curb Cut Effect(also: Curb Cut Phenomenon, Electronic Curb Cut)

The phenomenon whereby accessibility features designed for people with disabilities end up benefiting a much broader population. Named after sidewalk curb cuts — ramps originally mandated for wheelchair users that also help people with strollers, bicycles, rolling luggage,…

Curb Ramp(also: Curb Cut, Dropped Kerb, Kerb Ramp)

A small ramp built into or applied to the curb at pedestrian crossings and other transitions between a sidewalk and a roadway, providing a smooth transition for wheelchair users, people with mobility aids, strollers, and others. Curb ramps are a fundamental element of accessible…

Curb Ramp(also: Curb Cut, Dropped Kerb, Pram Ramp)

A sloped transition between a sidewalk and a street that allows wheelchair users, people with strollers, and others to cross without navigating a vertical curb. Curb ramps are essential infrastructure for pedestrian accessibility—their absence, poor maintenance, or improper…

Curb cut(also: Curb ramp, Dropped kerb, Pram ramp)

A small ramp built into the curb of a sidewalk at intersections and pedestrian crossings, providing a smooth transition between the sidewalk and the street. Originally mandated for wheelchair users under disability rights legislation such as the ADA, curb cuts have become a…

Curb-Cut Effect(also: Electronic Curb Cut)

The phenomenon whereby features designed for people with disabilities end up benefiting a much broader population. Named after pavement curb cuts originally mandated for wheelchair users, which also help parents with pushchairs, delivery workers with carts, cyclists, and…

Cure Narrative(also: Cure Rhetoric, Fix-It Mentality)

A dominant cultural narrative that frames disability as a problem to be eliminated, cured, or overcome through medical intervention, technology, or personal determination. Cure narratives position the non-disabled state as the default ideal and disability as a departure that…

Currency Accessibility(also: Accessible Currency, Banknote Accessibility)

The design of physical money — coins and banknotes — so that people with visual impairments or other disabilities can independently identify and use different denominations. Many countries produce banknotes in different sizes, colours, or with tactile features (raised print,…

Curse of Dimensionality (Accessibility)

In an accessibility context, the practical barrier that arises when a player or user must coordinate a large number of distinct inputs simultaneously or in rapid succession — for example, moving, aiming, shooting, and reloading concurrently in a first-person shooter. Even when…

Cursor Ambiguity(also: Cursor Position Ambiguity)

The difficulty users experience in determining the exact position of the text cursor, particularly when using screen readers on touchscreen devices. Screen readers announce the character or word at the cursor location, but users may not know whether the cursor is at the…

Cursor Assistance(also: Pointer Assistance, Mouse Assistance)

Software techniques that modify cursor behavior to make pointing and clicking easier for users with motor impairments. Cursor assistance encompasses a range of approaches including enlarging the effective target area (area cursors, bubble cursors), making targets "sticky" so the…

Cursor Control(also: Pointer Control, Cursor Navigation)

The ability to direct and position an on-screen cursor or pointer using an input device such as a mouse, trackball, touchpad, joystick, or eye tracker. Cursor control is a fundamental requirement for interacting with graphical user interfaces and involves both gross movements…

Cursor Deviation(also: Cursor Drift, Path Deviation)

The difference between the actual path taken by a cursor and the ideal straight-line path between the starting point and the target. Cursor deviation is a key performance metric in evaluating alternative input devices such as head controls, eye trackers, and adapted mice. Higher…

Cursor Freeze(also: Pointer Freeze, Steady Clicks)

An assistive technology technique that locks the cursor position in place during mouse button clicks, preventing the cursor from moving between the press and release of the button. This addresses a common source of errors for users with motor impairments who may involuntarily…

Cursor Locator(also: Pointer Locator, Cursor Finder, Find My Cursor)

A software utility that helps users find the position of their mouse pointer on screen when it has been lost from view. Cursor locators typically activate through a keyboard shortcut or by detecting pointer behavior such as rapid shaking, and then draw attention to the pointer's…

Cursor Movement(also: Cursor Navigation, Pointer Movement, Mouse Movement)

The process of controlling the position of a pointer or cursor on screen using an input device such as a mouse, trackpad, or joystick. Cursor movement efficiency is a key metric in accessibility research, measured through movement time, velocity, and path directness. Users with…

Cursor Tethering(also: Cursor Sync, Cursor Following)

A collaborative editing feature that automatically synchronizes one user's cursor position to match another user's cursor location in a shared document or code file. Unlike visual Follow mode (which syncs the viewport but not the actual cursor), cursor tethering moves the…

Customizability(also: Customization, Personalization)

The ability for users to modify and configure a system's interface, interaction methods, and behavior to match their individual needs and preferences. In accessibility contexts, customizability is a core design principle that acknowledges the diversity of disabled users'…

Customizable Captioning(also: Personalized Captions, Adaptive Captioning)

Captioning systems that allow users to modify how captions are displayed, including visual styling, content detail, and the representation of paralinguistic speech features such as emotion, loudness, and pitch. Unlike standard closed captions that offer only basic font and size…

Customizable Interface(also: Configurable Interface, User-Customizable UI)

A user interface that allows individuals to modify its appearance, behavior, or content display according to their preferences and needs. In accessibility contexts, customizable interfaces enable users to adjust parameters like font size, color scheme, content density, filtering…

Customization(also: User Customization)

Customization is the practice of allowing users to adapt a system's behaviour, output, or presentation to match their individual goals, preferences, and context. In accessibility, customization is essential because disability is heterogeneous: users of screen readers, AI…

Customization Paradox(also: Paradox of Choice in Customization)

The phenomenon where providing more customization options to reduce barriers paradoxically creates new barriers through increased cognitive load, decision fatigue, and distraction from the customization interface itself. The customization paradox is particularly acute for ADHD…

Cutaneous Perception(also: Cutaneous Sense, Cutaneous Feedback, Tactile Perception)

The sensory experience derived from receptors beneath the surface of the skin that respond to temperature, pain, and pressure. In the context of assistive technology, cutaneous perception enables users to detect surface textures, raised patterns, and embossed details through…

Cyber Crumb(also: Digital Crumb, Electronic Breadcrumb)

A concept in accessible wayfinding where tiny, inexpensive solar-powered digital chips are placed along building walkways like a trail of breadcrumbs, storing location-specific information that can be wirelessly transmitted to assistive devices. Developed by David Ross and…

CyberGlove(also: CyberGlove II)

A wearable motion-capture device in the form of a lightweight, elastic glove instrumented with bend sensors that measure the angles of finger joints during hand movement. CyberGloves are widely used in sign language research, virtual reality, and rehabilitation to record…

Cybersickness(also: VR Sickness, Simulator Sickness, Virtual Reality Motion Sickness)

A form of motion sickness experienced during virtual reality use, characterized by symptoms including nausea, disorientation, dizziness, eye strain, and general discomfort. Cybersickness occurs due to sensory conflicts between what the visual system perceives (movement in the…

Cyborg(also: Cybernetic Organism)

A being that integrates both organic and technological components, extending human capabilities through mechanical or digital augmentation. In disability studies and accessibility research, the cyborg concept has been applied to understand how people with disabilities who use…

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…

Cymatics

The study of visible patterns and shapes created when sound vibrations pass through physical media such as water, sand, or metal plates. Cymatic patterns are deterministic — the same frequency produces the same pattern — creating a predictable visual representation of sound. In…

Cypriot Sign Language(also: CSL)

The sign language used by the Deaf community in Cyprus, distinct from other sign languages such as American Sign Language (ASL), British Sign Language (BSL), or Greek Sign Language. Like all natural sign languages, Cypriot Sign Language has its own grammar, vocabulary, and…

D3(also: D3.js, Data-Driven Documents)

A JavaScript library for producing dynamic, interactive data visualizations in web browsers using SVG, HTML, and CSS. D3 gives developers fine-grained control over visualization rendering but does not include built-in accessibility features, leaving developers responsible for…

DAISY(also: Digital Accessible Information System, DAISY Consortium)

An international standard and consortium dedicated to making published information accessible to people with print disabilities including blindness, low vision, dyslexia, and physical disabilities that prevent handling books. The DAISY standard defines a format for creating…

DALL-E(also: DALL-E 2, DALL-E 3, DALLE)

A family of text-to-image generative AI models developed by OpenAI that produces images from natural-language prompts. DALL-E models are widely used by content creators, including people with disabilities, to generate visuals without photography or illustration skills, but they…

DBSCAN(also: Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise)

A density-based clustering algorithm introduced by Ester, Kriegel, Sander, and Xu (1996) that groups data points located in dense neighbourhoods and labels sparse points as noise. Unlike k-means, DBSCAN does not require the user to specify the number of clusters in advance and…

DECTalk

A text-to-speech synthesis system originally developed by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980s, using rule-based formant synthesis to generate speech from text input. DECTalk offered several preset voices (including "Paul" and "Betty") and was widely adopted in AAC…

DHH(also: D/HH, Deaf and Hard of Hearing)

An abbreviation for "Deaf and Hard of Hearing," encompassing the full spectrum of hearing differences from culturally Deaf individuals who use sign language as a primary language to people with varying degrees of hearing loss who may use hearing aids, cochlear implants, or rely…

DHTML(also: Dynamic HTML)

Dynamic HTML (DHTML) is a collective term for a combination of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and the Document Object Model (DOM) used together to create interactive and animated web content, prevalent in the late 1990s and early 2000s. DHTML created substantial accessibility barriers…

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: DIY-AT, Do-It-Yourself Assistive Technology)

Assistive technology that is designed, fabricated, or modified by individuals, communities, or non-commercial entities rather than purchased from commercial manufacturers. DIY-AT often uses accessible fabrication methods like 3D printing to create customized, low-cost solutions…