Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
9 results found in Disabilities and Conditions.
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS, ME/CFS, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis)
- A complex, long-term condition characterised by profound fatigue not relieved by rest, post-exertional malaise, cognitive difficulties ("brain fog"), and often sleep disturbance and pain. CFS is an in…
- Existential OCD
- A non-standardized but clinically recognized subtype of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) characterized by obsessions about the nature of reality, consciousness, free will, mortality, or the fate of…
- Intrusive Thoughts (Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts)
- Unwanted, distressing thoughts, urges, or images that enter a person’s mind involuntarily and are typically experienced as ego-dystonic (contrary to the person’s values or intentions). Intrusive thoug…
- OCD Accommodation (Family Accommodation)
- A behavior — typically by family, friends, or clinicians — that participates in or enables a person with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) to complete a compulsion, for example by providing reassura…
- OCD Cycle
- A four-step clinical model describing how Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is maintained: an obsession (intrusive thought, urge, or image) triggers a feeling of distress, which the person attempts to rel…
- Reassurance Robot
- A term coined by Grace Barkhuff (CHI 2026) to describe generative AI systems — such as ChatGPT — that, by default, provide reassurance, confession-hearing, and decision-making on demand, thereby accom…
- Scrupulosity (Moral OCD, Religious OCD)
- A subtype of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) characterized by obsessions about having violated moral, ethical, or religious standards — for example, fear of having sinned, of having been dishonest…
- Synaesthesia (Synesthesia)
- Synaesthesia is a perceptual phenomenon in which a stimulus in one sensory modality automatically and involuntarily triggers an additional experience in a different modality or sub-modality - for exam…
- Upper-Limb Amputation (Upper Limb Amputation, Arm Amputation)
- The surgical or traumatic removal of all or part of an arm — including transhumeral (above elbow), transradial (below elbow), wrist disarticulation, and partial-hand levels. People with upper-limb amp…