Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
122 results found in Inclusive Design.
- Dementia-Friendly Community (Dementia Friendly Community)
- An approach to inclusion in which public spaces, services, programs, and technologies are designed so that people living with dementia can continue to participate as active community members - shoppin…
- Design Exclusion (Exclusion Audit, Technology Exclusion)
- The process by which certain users are prevented from effectively using a product or service due to mismatches between the design of the technology and their abilities, circumstances, or available res…
- Design Justice
- A framework that centers the perspectives of people who are most impacted by design decisions, ensuring that design processes, practices, and outcomes distribute benefits and burdens equitably. Coined…
- Design Saviorism
- A problematic dynamic in design practice where nondisabled designers position themselves as rescuers of disabled people, seeking praise while attempting to fix something that is not broken. Design sav…
- Design for Dynamic Diversity (D3, DDD)
- A design paradigm proposed by Gregor, Newell, and Zajicek (2002) that explicitly accounts for the fact that human abilities are not static but change dynamically over time, particularly as people age.…
- Desire Paths (Desire lines)
- A term from urban design describing the unofficial trails that pedestrians wear into grass or dirt when built sidewalks do not meet their needs - the visible trace of an infrastructure users have impr…
- Device Independence (Device-Independent Design, Input Agnostic Design)
- A web design principle that ensures content and functionality are accessible regardless of the input device or interaction method used to access them. Device-independent design avoids assumptions abou…
- Disability-Led Design (Disability-Led)
- A design practice in which people with disabilities are not consultants, test subjects, or "users" but the authors, directors, and decision-makers shaping the work. Disability-led projects invert the …
- Disability-Related Embodied Empathy from Existing Media (DREEM)
- A design pedagogy approach, introduced by Baltaxe-Admony et al., that does not translate specific aspects of disability theory into technology requirements but instead develops curricula that sensitis…
- Disability-first Design (Disability-first Approach, Disability-centered Design)
- A design and research methodology that positions disabled people as active contributors and decision-makers rather than passive subjects or end-users in technology development. In contrast to approach…
- Discoverability (Feature Discoverability)
- The degree to which a user can find and become aware of a feature, setting, or capability within a system. In accessibility, discoverability is a critical challenge because users who could benefit fro…
- Dual User Interface (Dual Interface, Concurrent Accessible Interface)
- An interface design approach in which two distinct, purpose-built user interfaces are provided simultaneously for different user groups — typically one visual interface for sighted users and one non-v…
- Empathy Tools (Empathy Aids, Empathy-building Tools, Age Suits)
- Empathy tools are physical or digital artefacts designed to give non-disabled designers a limited first-hand experience of specific impairments or ageing effects — cataract-simulating goggles, blurrin…
- Exercise Accessibility (Fitness Accessibility, Accessible Physical Activity)
- The design of exercise environments, equipment, programs, and technologies to be usable by people with disabilities. Exercise accessibility encompasses both physical spaces (accessible gyms, adapted t…
- Experience-Based Co-Design (EBCD)
- A participatory methodology originally developed in UK health services research that treats people's lived experience - their 'emotional touch-points' of confusion, frustration, or insight - as the co…
- External Human-Machine Interface (eHMI, External HMI)
- A class of interfaces on the exterior of a vehicle — typically an automated or autonomous vehicle — designed to communicate the vehicle's intent, awareness, or state to pedestrians, cyclists, and othe…
- Fluctuating Disability (Variable Disability)
- A disability whose symptoms and severity vary over time, sometimes day to day or even hour to hour. People with fluctuating disabilities may experience periods of relatively high function alternating …
- Gerontechnology (Gerontech)
- An interdisciplinary field combining gerontology (the study of aging) and technology to design products, services, and environments that support the health, independence, and quality of life of older …
- Graphic Captions (Visual Captions, Animated Captions)
- A captioning approach that uses visual elements such as GIFs, animated stickers, icons, or emojis to represent sounds in audio-visual content, as an alternative or complement to traditional text-based…
- Graphical Model (Visual Model, Graphical Representation)
- In educational and accessibility contexts, a visual representation system that uses shapes, colours, spatial relationships, and physical manipulation to convey abstract concepts. Graphical models for …