Glossary

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

15 results found in identity.

Allistic (Non-Autistic)
A term used to describe people who are not autistic, regardless of whether they are neurotypical in other respects. The term was created within autistic communities to provide a specific counterpart t…
CODA (Child of Deaf Adults, Children of Deaf Adults)
An acronym for Child of Deaf Adults, referring to a hearing person who was raised by one or more Deaf parents. CODAs typically grow up bilingual and bicultural, fluent in both a sign language and a sp…
Camouflaging (Masking, Social Camouflage, Autistic Masking)
Camouflaging, also known as masking, is the conscious or unconscious suppression of autistic traits and adoption of neurotypical behaviors in order to fit into social situations. This can include forc…
Deaf (deaf, Big-D Deaf)
A term with dual meaning in accessibility contexts: lowercase "deaf" refers to the audiological condition of having significant hearing loss, while uppercase "Deaf" refers to cultural identity and mem…
Deaf Community (Deaf World, Signing Community)
A cultural and linguistic community of people who are Deaf or hard of hearing and who share a common language (typically a sign language), cultural values, traditions, and social norms. The Deaf commu…
Deaf Gain
A reframing concept that positions Deafness not as a loss (hearing loss) but as a gain — emphasizing the unique contributions, perspectives, and capabilities that Deaf individuals and Deaf culture bri…
Deafhood
A concept introduced by Paddy Ladd that reframes Deaf identity as a process of becoming and self-actualization rather than a medical condition to be fixed. Deafhood emphasizes the possibilities and ri…
Disability Culture (Crip Culture)
Disability culture encompasses the shared experiences, values, art, language, humor, and traditions that have developed among people with disabilities as a distinct social group. It includes disabilit…
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…
Late Deafened (Adventitiously Deaf, Acquired Deafness)
Late deafened refers to individuals who became deaf after developing spoken language, typically in adolescence or adulthood. Unlike people who are born deaf or become deaf in early childhood, late-dea…
Sociotechnical Identity
The aspect of personal identity that is constructed and expressed through the technologies a person uses. In assistive technology research, sociotechnical identity refers to how AT serves as a vehicle…
Special Interest (Hyperfocus Interest, Intense Interest)
A special interest is a deep, focused, and often long-lasting passion for a specific topic, activity, or subject area, commonly experienced by autistic individuals. Special interests go beyond typical…
Translated Deaf Self
A concept coined by Alys Young, Jemina Napier, and Rosemary Oram describing how deaf signers' lifelong experiences of being encountered, represented, and inter-subjectively known by others occur in a …
Transphobia (Anti-Transgender Prejudice, Anti-Trans Bias)
Transphobia refers to prejudice, discrimination, and hostility directed at people who are transgender, non-binary, or whose gender identity or expression differs from their sex assigned at birth. In d…
d/Deaf (Deaf, deaf, Big D Deaf, Little d deaf)
A convention used to distinguish between two meanings of the word deaf. Uppercase "Deaf" refers to people who identify as culturally Deaf and are part of the Deaf community, sharing a common language …