Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
840 results found in assistive technology.
- Complex Needs (Complex Access Needs, Complex Support Needs)
- Complex needs refers to the situation where an individual requires support across multiple areas of functioning due to a combination of physical, sensory, cognitive, communication, or behavioral facto…
- Connected TV (Smart TV, Internet TV, CTV)
- A television set or set-top box that can connect to the Internet, providing access to interactive features beyond traditional broadcast content including streaming applications, electronic programme g…
- Content Re-Rendering (Content Transformation, Accessible Re-Rendering)
- The process of taking content from one format or presentation and transforming it into a different format that is more accessible or usable for a specific audience. In accessibility, content re-render…
- Content Summarization (Text Summarization, Automated Summarization)
- The process of condensing longer text content into shorter, focused summaries that capture the essential information. In accessibility contexts, content summarization addresses the information overloa…
- Content tagging (Structural tagging, Semantic tagging)
- The process of adding structural markup to document content that identifies the role and meaning of each element. In PDF accessibility, content tagging involves marking regions of a document as paragr…
- Context Awareness (Context-Aware Computing, Situational Awareness)
- The capability of a system to sense and respond to its environment without requiring explicit input from the user. In assistive technology, context-aware systems infer what a user is doing based on se…
- Continuous Motion Input (Gesture Typing, Swipe Input)
- A text entry method where the user traces a continuous path across an on-screen keyboard, passing through the desired letters or keys without lifting their finger. This approach can be faster than dis…
- Contrastive Decoding (Visual Contrastive Decoding, VCD)
- Contrastive decoding is a technique for reducing hallucinations in large language model and multimodal AI outputs by comparing token probability distributions across different input conditions. The co…
- Control Surface (Hardware Controller, Mixing Console Controller)
- A control surface is a hardware device with physical knobs, sliders, and buttons that maps to the controls of a software application, most commonly a digital audio workstation (DAW). For people with v…
- Conversational Agent (Chatbot, Virtual Assistant, AI Assistant)
- A software system that uses natural language processing to engage in dialogue with users, answering questions and providing information through text or speech. In accessibility contexts, conversationa…
- Conversational Glanceability (Conversational Layout Support)
- A proposed design approach that uses conversational AI agents to provide blind and visually impaired users with the equivalent of visual glanceability—the ability to quickly scan and identify content …
- Conversational Interface (Conversational UI, Voice User Interface, VUI)
- A user interface that enables interaction through natural language, either spoken or typed, allowing users to communicate with a system using conversational dialogue rather than traditional graphical …
- Convivial Tools (Conviviality)
- A concept from philosopher Ivan Illich describing tools that are easy to learn through use, allow users to decide when and how to use them, and can adapt to individual preferences. In accessibility co…
- Cosmesis (Cosmetic Cover, Prosthetic Cosmesis)
- A covering applied to a prosthetic device that is designed to make the prosthesis look more natural or socially acceptable, and sometimes to improve grip or functionality. Cosmeses are available in a …
- Creativity Support Tool (CST, Creative Tool)
- Software designed to enhance, facilitate, or augment human creative processes such as drawing, writing, music composition, photography, and design. Creativity support tools range from simple drawing a…
- Crip Technoscience (Critical Disability Technoscience)
- A framework articulated by Aimi Hamraie and Kelly Fritsch that examines how disabled people engage with, repurpose, and create technologies from their own embodied knowledge and political standpoints.…
- Cross-Checking (Cross-Verification, Multi-Tool Verification)
- A verification strategy used by blind and low vision people to assess the reliability of AI-generated image descriptions by comparing outputs from multiple AI tools, taking photos from different angle…
- Cross-Referencing (Verification by Comparison)
- A strategy used by blind people to verify AI output by comparing information from multiple sources or against prior personal knowledge. In the context of privacy tools, participants suggested that ass…
- Crowdsourcing Accessibility (Accessibility Crowdsourcing)
- The practice of using distributed groups of people, often through online platforms, to collect, label, or improve accessibility-related information at scale. Examples include using crowd workers to au…
- Cued Speech (Cued Language)
- A visual communication system that combines mouth movements of speech with hand shapes and positions (cues) near the face to make spoken language visually accessible. Unlike sign language, which is an…