Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
69 results found in Disability Studies.
- Language Justice (Linguistic Justice)
- A framework that advocates for the equal valuing and inclusion of all languages in social, educational, and technological contexts, challenging the dominance of English and other majority languages. I…
- Lived Experience (First-Person Experience)
- Knowledge and understanding gained through direct personal experience of a condition, situation, or identity, as distinct from theoretical or observational knowledge. In disability and accessibility r…
- Marginalization (Social Marginalization, Social Exclusion)
- The process by which individuals or groups are pushed to the edges of society, denied equal access to resources, opportunities, and power. People with disabilities, particularly those with communicati…
- Masking (Camouflaging, Social camouflage, Neurotypical passing)
- The conscious or unconscious process by which neurodivergent individuals — particularly autistic people — suppress their natural behaviours, communication styles, and reactions to conform to neurotypi…
- Medical Model of Disability (Medical Model, Deficit Model)
- The medical model of disability is a framework that views disability primarily as a problem located within the individual, a biological deficit or impairment that needs to be fixed, cured, or compensa…
- Meta-Research (Research on research, Metascience)
- The systematic study of research itself — the tools, workflows, norms, infrastructures, and institutional practices through which scholarly knowledge is produced, evaluated, and disseminated. Meta-res…
- 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 …
- Misfitting
- A concept from disability studies scholar Rosemarie Garland-Thomson describing the incongruent relationship between a body and its environment — when the world is not designed to accommodate a particu…
- Mixed-Ability (Mixed-Ability Environment, Mixed-Ability Workplace, Mixed-Ability Setting)
- A social environment, workplace, or group where people with and without disabilities interact, collaborate, or share space. In mixed-ability settings, accessibility becomes a social and collaborative …
- 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. …
- Ocular normativity (Ocularcentrism, Ocular norm, Visual normativity)
- A concept from critical disability studies describing the cultural assumption that sight is the primary, most reliable, and most natural mode of knowing and perceiving the world. Ocular normativity po…
- Outcome-Based Education (OBE, Standards-Based Education)
- An educational approach that focuses on measuring student achievement through specific, predetermined outcomes or competencies rather than on the process of learning itself. In disability and special …
- Parasocial Relationship (Parasocial Tie, Parasocial Interaction)
- A parasocial relationship is a one-sided emotional bond that a media audience forms with a performer, creator, or online personality — the viewer feels a sense of friendship, loyalty, and familiarity …
- Positive Design (Design for Subjective Well-Being)
- A design framework, articulated by Desmet and Pohlmeyer, that explicitly targets human flourishing by attending to three components of subjective well-being: pleasure (positive affect in the moment), …
- Productivity Norms (Compulsory Productivity)
- Socially constructed expectations about the quantity and pace of work output that individuals should maintain. Productivity norms are often built around non-disabled bodies and minds, creating barrier…
- Quality of Life (QoL, WHOQOL)
- Quality of life (QoL) is a multidimensional construct used in disability, rehabilitation, and accessibility research to capture well-being across physical health, psychological state, social relations…
- Segregated Education (Separate Schooling, Special Schooling)
- An educational model where students with disabilities are educated in separate institutions or classrooms apart from their non-disabled peers. While segregated schools like residential schools for the…
- Selective disclosure (Contextual disclosure, Situational disclosure)
- The practice of revealing disability identity to specific people or in specific contexts while keeping it private in others, based on a continuous assessment of safety, trust, relevance, and potential…
- Self-presentation (Impression management, Identity management)
- The process by which individuals control how they are perceived by others, selecting which aspects of their identity to reveal, emphasise, or conceal in different social contexts. For people with invi…
- Sensory erasure (Sensory exclusion)
- The systematic marginalization or elimination of non-visual sensory modalities in the design of technologies, interfaces, and information systems. Sensory erasure occurs when platforms treat visual in…