Glossary

Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.

69 results found in Disability Studies.

Situational Disability (Situational Impairment, Contextual Disability)
A temporary limitation in ability caused by environmental or situational factors rather than a medical condition. Examples include being unable to hear audio in a noisy environment, having limited dex…
Social accessibility (Social model of access)
An approach to accessibility that recognises the role of social interactions, human help, and community practices in enabling access for people with disabilities, rather than focusing solely on techno…
Special Education (Special Needs Education, SPED)
Educational programs, services, and instruction specifically designed to meet the unique needs of students with disabilities. Special education encompasses a range of settings from fully inclusive cla…
Spoon Theory (Spoons)
A metaphor created by Christine Miserandino to explain the limited energy available to people living with chronic illness or disability. In this framework, each daily activity costs a certain number o…
Spoon theory (Spoons, Energy accounting)
A metaphor created by Christine Miserandino to explain the limited energy reserves experienced by people with chronic illness and disabilities. "Spoons" represent units of energy, and every activity —…
Symbolic Interactionism (SI)
A sociological tradition, associated with Herbert Blumer and the Chicago School following George Herbert Mead, that understands social reality as constructed through ongoing interaction: people act to…
Temporary Disability (Short-Term Disability, Transient Disability)
A disability or impairment that is expected to be temporary in duration, resulting from illness, injury, surgery, or other medical conditions. Temporary disabilities create access needs that may be id…
Translanguaging
The practice of drawing on multiple languages within a single interaction or communication act, leveraging a person's full linguistic repertoire rather than treating languages as separate, bounded sys…
World-Making (Worldmaking)
World-making, drawing on Nelson Goodman's 'Ways of Worldmaking' and extended in disability scholarship by Faye Ginsburg and Rayna Rapp, refers to the active construction of shared social worlds throug…