Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
17 results found in Built Environment.
- Bus stop accessibility (Accessible bus stops, Bus stop landmarks)
- The design, infrastructure, and information features that make bus stops findable, identifiable, and usable by people with disabilities. For blind and low-vision riders, bus stop accessibility depends…
- Detectable Warnings (Detectable Warning Surfaces, Tactile Warning Surfaces)
- Detectable warnings are standardised tactile surface features installed on walking surfaces to alert people with visual impairments to hazards or transitions — most commonly the edge of a transit plat…
- First-mile last-mile (First and last mile, FMLM)
- The beginning and end segments of a public transit journey — travelling from one's origin to the transit stop (first mile) and from the destination stop to the final destination (last mile). These seg…
- Grab Bar (Safety Rail, Support Bar, Handrail)
- A rigid, wall-mounted bar designed to provide support and stability for people who need assistance maintaining balance, transferring between positions, or preventing falls. Grab bars are most commonly…
- Home Accessibility Audit (Home Safety Assessment, Indoor Accessibility Assessment, HSSAT)
- A systematic evaluation of a residential space to identify barriers to access, safety hazards, and opportunities for modification to support people with disabilities, older adults, or families with yo…
- Indoor Accessibility (Home Accessibility, Domestic Accessibility)
- The degree to which indoor spaces — including homes, workplaces, and public buildings — can be safely and independently used by people with disabilities. Indoor accessibility encompasses physical feat…
- Luminance Contrast (Brightness Contrast)
- The difference in perceived brightness between two adjacent surfaces or objects, as opposed to color contrast which involves differences in hue. Luminance contrast is particularly important for people…
- Paratransit (Demand-responsive transit, Dial-a-ride)
- A flexible, on-demand public transportation service that provides rides to people with disabilities who are unable to use fixed-route bus or rail systems. In the United States, the Americans with Disa…
- Pedestrian Crossing (Crosswalk, Zebra crossing, Pedestrian crosswalk)
- A designated location on a road where pedestrians have legal priority, guidance, or protection to cross, typically marked by paint (zebra or ladder stripes), signs, or signal-controlled infrastructure…
- Physical Accessibility (Physical Access, Architectural Accessibility)
- Physical accessibility refers to the design of buildings, environments, and public spaces so they can be independently used by people with physical disabilities, including those who use mobility aids.…
- Place Attachment (Sense of Place)
- Place attachment is the emotional and cognitive bond a person forms with a particular location — a home, neighbourhood, city, or landscape — built up through memory, repeated experience, social ties, …
- Surface Level Change (Elevation Change, Grade Change)
- Any change in the height of the ground or floor surface, including stairs, curbs, ramps, steps, potholes, and raised thresholds. Surface level changes are a significant mobility challenge and safety h…
- Tactile Dome (Truncated Dome, Detectable Warning Surface)
- Small raised bumps arranged in a grid pattern on ground surfaces to provide a tactile warning of an upcoming hazard, such as a curb edge, train platform edge, or street crossing. Tactile domes are par…
- Tactile Signage (Tactile Signs, Touch-Readable Signs)
- Signs designed to be read by touch, typically featuring raised lettering, Braille text, or tactile symbols. Required in many jurisdictions under accessibility legislation such as the Americans with Di…
- Tactile paving (Tactile ground surface indicators, TGSI, Detectable warning surface, Truncated domes)
- A system of textured ground surfaces installed on footpaths, transit platforms, and pedestrian crossings to provide navigational cues to people with visual impairments through the sense of touch under…
- Talking Lights
- Talking Lights is a commercial location-signalling system that modulates ordinary fluorescent light fixtures to transmit an inaudible digital signal, which a hand-held receiver carried by a blind user…
- Transit accessibility (Public transportation accessibility, Accessible transit)
- The degree to which public transportation systems — including buses, trains, subways, and associated infrastructure like stops, stations, and information systems — are usable by people with disabiliti…