Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
122 results found in Inclusive Design.
- Abundant Design (Abundant UI Design)
- A design approach for cognitively accessible interfaces in which primary actions are represented by multiple redundant cues — short text, an icon, a distinctive color, and ample size — so users can id…
- Access Conflict (Accessibility Conflict, Competing Access Needs)
- A situation in which the accessibility requirements of one person conflict with or undermine the accessibility requirements of another person. For example, a student prone to migraines may need low li…
- Access Friction (Accessibility Friction)
- The effort, frustration, or barriers encountered when attempting to access technology, services, or environments. Access friction can range from minor inconveniences to complete exclusion and may resu…
- Access Needs (Accessibility Needs, Access Requirements)
- The specific requirements a person has in order to access information, environments, services, or activities on an equal basis. Access needs vary by individual and context, and may relate to sensory, …
- Accessibility Gap (Usability Gap, Digital Divide)
- The measurable disparity in task performance, user experience, or access between people with disabilities and people without disabilities when using digital technology. The accessibility gap is common…
- Accessibility Technology (Access Technology)
- A broad term encompassing any technology used to address accessibility barriers, including both dedicated assistive technologies and mainstream technologies repurposed for access. Unlike the narrower …
- Accessible Computing (Computing Accessibility)
- The design, development, and deployment of computing systems, tools, and interfaces that can be effectively used by people with disabilities. Accessible computing encompasses web accessibility, mobile…
- Accessible Education (Inclusive Education)
- The practice of designing educational environments, materials, and technologies so that all students, including those with disabilities, can participate fully and equally. Accessible education encompa…
- Adaptive Interface (Adaptive UI, Self-Adapting Interface)
- A user interface that automatically adjusts its layout, content, or behavior based on user context, abilities, preferences, or device constraints without requiring explicit user configuration. Adaptiv…
- Age-Related Accessibility (Aging and Accessibility, Older Adult Accessibility)
- The design considerations and accommodations needed to ensure digital technology is usable by older adults who experience age-related changes in vision, hearing, cognition, and motor control. Common c…
- Age-Sensitive Design (Age-Sensitive Creative AI Mediation)
- A design stance that treats age-related physical, cognitive, and digital-literacy characteristics as first-class inputs to the system design process rather than as edge cases to be handled after the f…
- Agency (User Agency, Sense of Agency)
- The capacity to act, make choices, and exert control over one's own life and environment. In disability studies, agency is distinguished from independence — a person can have agency (the ability to ma…
- Aging (Ageing)
- Aging is the biological, psychological, and social process of growing older, which in accessibility practice is associated with a predictable cluster of changes: declining near and low-contrast vision…
- Assets-Based Design (Strengths-Based Design, Asset-Based Approach)
- A design philosophy that focuses on the existing strengths, capabilities, resources, and strategies of users rather than defining them primarily by their deficits or limitations. In accessibility and …
- Assistive Technology Mainstreaming (Mainstreaming, AT Mainstreaming)
- A design philosophy and practice where assistive technology features are integrated into mainstream consumer products rather than developed as separate, specialized devices. Examples include smartphon…
- Audience Modelling (Audience Modeling, User Modelling)
- The practice of characterizing and formally describing distinct groups of users and their interaction characteristics to inform the design and evaluation of web interfaces. In accessibility, audience …
- Audio-First Design (Audio-Centric Design, Sound-First Design)
- A design approach that prioritizes audio as the primary interaction modality rather than treating it as a secondary alternative to visual interfaces. Audio-first design is particularly relevant for cr…
- Aural Diversity (Hearing diversity)
- A framework that recognizes the wide variation in how humans perceive and engage with sound, rather than treating typical hearing as the norm against which all other experiences are measured. Aural di…
- Automatic UI Generation (Auto-Generated Interface, Model-Based UI Generation)
- The process of computationally producing a graphical user interface from an abstract specification of its functionality, rather than having designers manually create the visual layout. In accessibilit…
- Autonomous Public Transport (Autonomous Public Transit, Driverless Public Transport)
- Public-transport services — buses, shuttles, ferries, trams — operated wholly or partly by self-driving technology, typically supervised remotely rather than by an onboard driver. From an accessibilit…