Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
87 results found in disability.
- Chronic Pain
- Persistent pain lasting longer than three months that may arise from an initial injury, ongoing illness, or without a clear physical cause. Chronic pain is a common experience among people with disabi…
- Color Blindness (Color Vision Deficiency, CVD, Colour Blindness)
- A condition in which the ability to distinguish certain colors is reduced or absent, most commonly affecting the perception of red and green. Color blindness affects approximately 8% of males and 0.5%…
- Community-Driven Research (Community-Based Research, Community-Led Research)
- A research approach where the community being studied plays a central role in defining research questions, designing methodologies, collecting data, and interpreting results. In accessibility, communi…
- Complex Communication Needs (CCN)
- A term describing the communication challenges faced by individuals who cannot rely on speech alone to meet all their communication needs in daily life. People with complex communication needs may use…
- 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…
- Cross-syndrome comparison (Cross-disability comparison)
- A research methodology that evaluates a technology or intervention with participants from multiple disability groups to determine whether findings and design principles generalize across conditions. C…
- DHH (D/HH, Deaf and Hard of Hearing)
- An abbreviation for "Deaf and Hard of Hearing," encompassing the full spectrum of hearing differences from culturally Deaf individuals who use sign language as a primary language to people with varyin…
- Deafblindness (Deaf-Blindness, Dual Sensory Impairment, Combined Vision and Hearing Loss)
- Deafblindness is a combined vision and hearing impairment that creates unique challenges beyond those associated with either sensory loss alone. It is not simply the sum of deafness and blindness — th…
- Depression (Major Depressive Disorder, Clinical Depression)
- A mental health condition characterized by persistent feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and loss of interest in activities. Depression can significantly impact cognitive function, including concentra…
- Depth Perception (Stereopsis)
- The visual ability to perceive the relative distance of objects in three-dimensional space. Depth perception relies on binocular vision and other visual cues. Reduced depth perception can affect a per…
- Developmental disability (Developmental disorder)
- A group of conditions resulting from impairments in physical, learning, language, or behavioural areas that begin during the developmental period, are usually lifelong, and affect day-to-day functioni…
- Dexterity Impairment (Dexterity Difference, Reduced Dexterity, Fine Motor Impairment)
- A reduction in the ability to perform precise, coordinated movements with the hands and fingers, which can range from mild to severe and may be permanent, intermittent, or transient. Dexterity impairm…
- Diplegia (Spastic Diplegia)
- A form of paralysis or weakness affecting corresponding parts on both sides of the body, most commonly both legs. Spastic diplegia is one of the most common forms of cerebral palsy, where muscle stiff…
- Disability
- A complex, multidimensional concept encompassing physical, sensory, cognitive, and psychosocial differences that interact with societal barriers to limit full participation. The social model of disabi…
- Dysautonomia
- A group of conditions caused by dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system, which controls involuntary functions like heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, and temperature regulation. Dysautonomia c…
- Dyslexia
- A specific learning disability that primarily affects reading, writing, and spelling skills. Dyslexia is neurological in origin and is characterized by difficulties with accurate or fluent word recogn…
- Dyspnea (Breathlessness, Shortness of Breath)
- A subjective experience of breathing discomfort consisting of qualitatively distinct sensations that vary in intensity, as defined by the American Thoracic Society. People who experience dyspnea commo…
- Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS)
- A group of heritable connective tissue disorders characterized by joint hypermobility, skin hyperelasticity, and tissue fragility. EDS often leads to frequent joint dislocations, chronic pain, and dif…
- Friedreich's Ataxia (FA, FRDA)
- A progressive neuromuscular disease causing increasing ataxia (loss of voluntary coordination of muscle movements), dysarthria (slurred speech), muscle weakness, and in many cases pathological nystagm…
- Friedrich's Ataxia (Friedreich Ataxia, FRDA)
- A rare inherited neurological disorder that causes progressive damage to the nervous system, resulting in impaired muscle coordination (ataxia), speech difficulties, and loss of sensation in the limbs…