Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
840 results found in assistive technology.
- Tactile graphics (Raised-line graphics, Touch graphics)
- Physical representations of visual information using raised surfaces, textures, and patterns that can be explored through touch. Tactile graphics are essential for conveying spatial and graphical info…
- Tactile relief (2.5D relief, Tactile relief model)
- A physical representation that preserves depth information and surface textures from a two-dimensional image, creating a raised surface that can be explored by touch. Unlike flat raised-line drawings …
- Tactile-First Strategy (Touch-Based Strategy, Tactile-First Approach)
- An approach to completing tasks that prioritizes touch and physical sensation as the primary sensory channel for guidance, feedback, and assessment. In accessibility contexts, tactile-first strategies…
- Tangible Technology (Tangible Interface, Tangible User Interface, TUI)
- Technology that connects physical objects to digital systems, allowing users to interact with computing through touching, manipulating, and moving real-world objects rather than through screens or key…
- Tangram Workstation (Tangram)
- A LibreOffice extension for creating tactile graphics collaboratively. Tangram enables sighted users to design graphics while providing real-time tactile feedback to blind reviewers through a connecte…
- Tap-to-Hear (Point-to-Hear, Tap-to-Listen, Point-and-Click Exploration)
- An interaction paradigm used in tactile graphic readers and touch-based accessibility tools where users touch or tap on elements of a tactile graphic to trigger spoken audio descriptions of the elemen…
- TapTapSee
- An AI-enabled visual assistance app designed for blind and low vision users that identifies objects through photos taken with a smartphone camera. Users double-tap their screen to take a photo, and th…
- Task Sequencing (Task Decomposition, Step Sequencing)
- The cognitive ability to break down complex activities into substeps and execute them in an appropriate order. Task sequencing is essential for Activities of Daily Living such as brushing teeth, dress…
- Task-Technology Fit (TTF)
- A concept from information systems research describing how well a technology's capabilities match the requirements of the tasks it is used to perform. In assistive technology, task-technology fit is c…
- Taylor Frame (Taylor Mathematical Slate, Taylor Slate, Math Frame)
- A tactile tool used by visually impaired students to perform arithmetic calculations. The device consists of a rectangular board with rows of holes into which small lead or plastic bars are inserted. …
- Teachable AI (Teachable Machine Learning, Interactive Machine Learning)
- Teachable AI refers to artificial intelligence systems that allow end users to personalize the system by providing their own training examples, high-level constraints, or prompts — without requiring p…
- Teachable Object Recognizer (Teachable Machine, Personalized Object Recognizer)
- A machine learning application that allows end users to train custom object recognition models by providing their own example images, rather than relying on pre-trained models with fixed categories. I…
- Technology Amplification Theory (Technology as Amplifier)
- A theory proposed by Kentaro Toyama positing that technology amplifies existing human intent and capacity rather than creating new capabilities from scratch. In the context of assistive technology and…
- Technology Repertoire (Assistive Technology Repertoire, Tool Repertoire)
- The collection of tools, technologies, and strategies that a disabled person uses in coordination to address access barriers in their daily life. Repertoires are not static lists but dynamic ecosystem…
- Technology Transfer (Tech Transfer)
- The process of moving research findings, inventions, and prototype technologies from the laboratory to commercial availability and widespread use. In assistive technology, technology transfer is a cri…
- Technology acceptance (User acceptance, Technology adoption)
- The degree to which individuals are willing to embrace, use, and integrate a new technology into their practices, influenced by perceived usefulness, ease of use, social norms, trust, and prior experi…
- Technology discoverability (AT discoverability, Product findability)
- The ease with which users can find, evaluate, and select appropriate technologies that meet their specific needs. In disability and accessibility contexts, discoverability is a persistent challenge: s…
- Telecoil (T-Coil, Telephone Coil, Induction Coil)
- A small copper coil inside a hearing aid or cochlear implant processor that picks up magnetic signals and converts them to sound. Telecoils allow hearing device users to receive audio directly from te…
- Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD, TTY, Text Telephone, Teletypewriter)
- A specialized device that enables text-based telephone communication for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. TDDs transmit typed text over telephone lines using acoustic coupling or direct connect…
- Telepresence robot (Telepresence, Remote presence robot)
- A mobile robotic device that enables a remote user to have a physical presence in a distant location, typically featuring a screen displaying the user's face, a camera, microphone, speaker, and wheels…