Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
88 results found in Accessibility Concepts.
- Mathematical Notation Accessibility (Math Accessibility, Accessible Mathematics)
- The practice of making mathematical expressions, equations, and formulae perceivable and understandable by people with disabilities, particularly those who are blind or have low vision. Mathematical n…
- Memory (Human Memory)
- The cognitive capacity to encode, store, and retrieve information and past experiences. Memory is typically distinguished into short-term/working memory, long-term memory (which includes episodic, sem…
- Mimetic Language (Sound Symbolism, Phonomimes, Ideophones)
- Words or vocalizations whose sounds imitate or evoke the sensory qualities of what they describe, such as the rustle of leaves, the thud of a drum, or the hiss of escaping air. Mimetic language sits a…
- Misfit
- A concept from disability-studies scholar Rosemarie Garland-Thomson describing 'an incongruent relationship between two things' - the material mismatch between a body and an environment not built for …
- Mixed-Initiative Interaction (Mixed-Initiative Systems, Human-Agent Collaboration)
- An interaction paradigm in which both the human user and the computer system can take initiative in directing the task, rather than one party being entirely in control. In accessibility contexts, mixe…
- Mixed-Visual Group (Mixed visual ability group, Mixed-visual ability group)
- A group whose members include both blind or low-vision and sighted participants. The term is used in accessibility research on group activities (museum tours, classrooms, family outings, workplace mee…
- Modality (Interaction Modality, Interface Modality)
- The sensory channel or communication method through which a user interacts with a computer system, such as visual (graphical displays), auditory (speech or non-speech audio), tactile (braille, haptic …
- Mood (Affect, Affective State)
- In affective computing and music research, the emotional quality a stimulus evokes in a listener or viewer, commonly characterized along dimensions such as valence (pleasant–unpleasant) and arousal (c…
- Mutual Support (Mutual support in HRI, Mutual assistance)
- In accessibility and human-robot interaction research, a framing that moves beyond one-way robot-supports-user or user-supervises-robot models toward a bidirectional relationship in which each party c…
- Navigation Order (Focus Order, Tab Order, Reading Order)
- The sequence in which a user encounters interface elements when navigating with assistive technology, a keyboard, or other non-visual means. A logical navigation order follows the visual layout and se…
- Normate
- A term coined by disability studies scholar Rosemarie Garland-Thomson to name the cultural figure - the imagined 'normal' body - against which other bodies are measured, valued, and judged deficient. …
- PVI (People with Visual Impairments, Person with Visual Impairment, Persons with Visual Impairments)
- An abbreviation widely used in HCI and accessibility research for "people with visual impairments," a person-first umbrella term that includes people who are blind, legally blind, or have low vision. …
- Passive Haptic Feedback (Passive tactile feedback)
- Tactile information provided to a user by the inherent physical properties of a device or interface, without any active actuation. Examples include the raised bezel around a touch screen, the tactile …
- Perceptual Gap
- A design failure identified by Choudhury (2026) in which an AI system's explanation is delivered through exactly the sensory channel that its user cannot access. For example, a Grad-CAM heat map overl…
- Personalized Dynamic Accessibility (Dynamic Accessibility, Adaptive Accessibility)
- An approach to accessibility where systems automatically detect user abilities and adapt interface settings in real-time to match current needs. Unlike static accessibility settings that remain consta…
- Pervasive Accessible Technology (PAT)
- A strategy for integrating accessibility directly into information technology infrastructure rather than retrofitting it after the fact. Proposed by Michael Paciello in 1996, Pervasive Accessible Tech…
- Pitch
- The perceived highness or lowness of a sound, determined primarily by its fundamental frequency (measured in Hertz). Pitch is one of the primary dimensions along which music and speech are organized, …
- Presentation Independence (Presentation-Independent Information)
- The principle that information should be stored and served in formats that can be rendered in visual, auditory, or electronic text form without loss of meaning. Presentation-independent content has no…
- Print Disabilities (Print Disability, Print Impairment)
- A broad term encompassing any condition that prevents a person from effectively reading standard printed text. Print disabilities include blindness and low vision, but also extend to learning disabili…
- Privacy
- The right and practical ability of a person to control the collection, use, and disclosure of information about themselves, their body, their activities, and their relationships. For accessibility, pr…