Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
86 results found in disability rights.
- Curb-Cut Effect (Electronic Curb Cut)
- The phenomenon whereby features designed for people with disabilities end up benefiting a much broader population. Named after pavement curb cuts originally mandated for wheelchair users, which also h…
- Data Protection (Data Privacy)
- The practices, policies, and legal frameworks governing how personal information is collected, stored, processed, and shared by organizations. For assistive technology companies, data protection is es…
- Deinstitutionalisation (Deinstitutionalization)
- The process of transitioning people with disabilities — particularly intellectual disabilities and mental health conditions — from large, segregated residential institutions into community-based livin…
- 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 for User Empowerment (DfUE, Empowerment-Oriented Design)
- A design philosophy that prioritizes giving users — particularly people with disabilities — the skills, tools, and agency to create, modify, and customize their own technology solutions rather than be…
- Dignity of risk (Right to risk)
- A disability rights principle, articulated by Robert Perske in 1972, asserting that people with disabilities have the right to make self-directed choices that involve risk, including the freedom to fa…
- Disability Disclosure (Self-Disclosure, Disability Identity Disclosure)
- The act of revealing one's disability status to others, including employers, educators, peers, or service providers. Disability disclosure is a complex, strategic decision influenced by stigma, fear o…
- Disability Employment Gap (Employment Disparity)
- The significant difference in employment rates between people with and without disabilities. Statistics consistently show that people with disabilities are employed at roughly half the rate of non-dis…
- Disability Intimacy (Crip Intimacy, Disabled Intimacy)
- The multifaceted experiences of intimacy as lived by disabled people, encompassing not only sexuality and romantic relationships but also emotional well-being, support networks, interpersonal trust, f…
- Disability Justice (DJ)
- A framework developed by disabled queer and trans people of color — including Patty Berne, Mia Mingus, Stacey Milbern, Eli Clare, and Leroy Moore through Sins Invalid — that recognizes disability as i…
- Disability Pride (Disability Identity Pride)
- The acknowledgment and embracing of disability as a valued part of personal identity rather than something to hide, overcome, or be ashamed of. Disability Pride is rooted in the social model of disabi…
- Disability Rights (Disability Justice, Disability Advocacy)
- The movement and legal framework advocating for equal rights, opportunities, and full participation of people with disabilities in society. Key legislation includes the Americans with Disabilities Act…
- Disability Rights in the Global South (Southern Disability Rights, Disability Justice Global South)
- The movement and body of scholarship focused on the rights, inclusion, and empowerment of people with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries, where disability intersects with poverty, limite…
- Disability Stereotyping (Disability Stereotype, Ableist Stereotyping)
- The attribution of fixed, oversimplified characteristics to individuals based on their disability status. In the context of AI and language models, disability stereotyping occurs when systems associat…
- Disability culture (Crip culture)
- A cultural movement and identity framework that celebrates the diversity disability brings, recognizing the positive aspects of the disability experience — community, solidarity, creativity, and uniqu…
- Disability pride
- A positive affirmation of disability identity that rejects shame, pity, and the desire to be "fixed" or "cured." Disability pride is a core element of disability culture, rooted in the belief that dis…
- Disability-Led Research (Disabled-Led Research, Disability-Centered Research)
- Research that is conceived, designed, conducted, and interpreted by disabled people rather than about them by non-disabled researchers. Disability-led research recognizes that disabled people hold uni…
- 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…
- Disabled Joy (Disability Joy, Crip Joy)
- Disabled joy refers to the positive experiences, pleasures, and sources of happiness that arise from or are connected to living as a disabled person. This includes pride in disability identity, the ri…
- Disablism (Disability Discrimination)
- Discriminatory, oppressive, or abusive behaviour directed at people because of their disability, encompassing both individual acts of prejudice and systemic societal barriers. Coined by the Union of P…