Glossary

Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.

49 results found in disability theory.

Selective Engagement
A strategy where a person chooses to interact only with stakeholders, services, or platforms that are known to be safe and supportive, reducing exposure to adversarial or discriminatory environments. …
Skilled Vision (Vernacular Vision, Professional Vision)
Skilled vision is a concept from visual culture and anthropology that describes the process of learning to see and interpret visual information in specialized ways within a particular community of pra…
Social Model of Disability (Social Construction of Disability)
A framework that locates disability not in an individual's body or mind but in the barriers created by society — including physical environments, attitudes, policies, and systems that exclude people w…
Social Model of Disability (social model, barriers model)
A framework that distinguishes between impairment (a physical, sensory, or cognitive difference) and disability (the social barriers and exclusion that result from society not accommodating that diffe…
Stable Systems of Access
Access ecosystems where a disabled person can reliably anticipate available resources, plan long-term, and accumulate stability over time. In a stable system, stakeholders are predictable, resources a…
Strengths-Based Approach (Asset-Based Approach, Strengths-Based Practice)
An approach that focuses on identifying and building upon individuals' existing abilities, interests, and resources rather than concentrating on deficits and limitations. In disability and accessibili…
Systems of Access
A conceptual framework describing the dynamic network of people, institutions, environments, and resources that disabled people navigate to meet their needs. Unlike linear models of accessibility that…
Technocapitalist Disability Rhetoric
A term describing the marketing and promotional language used by technology companies that recasts lived disability experience into marketable suffering and positions technological products as purchas…
Unstable Systems of Access
Access ecosystems characterized by unpredictability, where resources and stakeholder relationships may shift without warning, forcing reactive decision-making and increasing risk. In unstable systems,…