Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
16 results found in neurodivergence.
- Body Doubling (Parallel Working, Co-Working for Focus)
- A productivity and focus strategy commonly used by people with ADHD and other executive function challenges, where having another person present — physically or virtually — helps with task initiation …
- Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI, Cortical Visual Impairment, Brain-Based Visual Impairment)
- A form of visual impairment caused by damage to or dysfunction in the brain's visual processing centres, rather than problems with the eyes themselves. CVI is the leading cause of childhood vision imp…
- Executive Dysfunction (Executive Function Deficit, EF Impairment)
- A disruption in the efficiency of executive functions that affects a person's ability to plan, organize, initiate tasks, manage time, make decisions, and regulate behavior. Executive dysfunction is a …
- Executive Function (EF, Executive Functioning)
- A set of higher-order cognitive processes that enable planning, organizing, initiating tasks, sustaining attention, managing time, regulating emotions, and adapting to new situations. Executive functi…
- Hemi-Attention (Hemispatial Neglect, Unilateral Neglect, Visual Neglect, {'': ['Visuo-Spatial Neglect', 'Visuospatial Neglect', 'VSN']})
- A neurological condition in which a person has reduced attention or awareness to one side of space, typically the side opposite to a brain injury. Unlike hemianopsia (where visual input is lost), hemi…
- Interoception (Interoceptive Awareness)
- The sense of the internal state of the body, including perception of heartbeat, breathing, hunger, thirst, temperature, pain, and emotional feelings. Interoception enables people to recognize and resp…
- Neurodivergent Movement (Neurodiversity Movement)
- A social movement, largely driven by online collective action beginning in the early 2000s, that challenges traditional deficit-based models of neurological differences like ADHD, autism, dyslexia, an…
- Optic Ataxia (Visuomotor Ataxia)
- A neurological condition characterised by impaired reaching for objects using visual guidance, despite having adequate vision and motor strength. People with optic ataxia can see an object and describ…
- Parallel Play (Parallel Activity)
- A form of social interaction where individuals engage in separate activities alongside each other without direct interaction. Originally described in child development research by Mildred Parten in 19…
- Prosopagnosia (Face Blindness)
- A neurological condition characterised by the inability to recognise familiar faces, despite otherwise intact visual and cognitive abilities. People with prosopagnosia may fail to recognise family mem…
- Self-Accommodation (Self-Accommodations)
- Strategies and adaptations that individuals develop independently to manage disability-related challenges, without formal support systems or clinical intervention. Self-accommodations are particularly…
- Sensory Overload (Sensory Overwhelm, Overstimulation)
- A state in which the brain receives more sensory input than it can effectively process, leading to stress, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and in severe cases, meltdowns or shutdowns. Sensory overl…
- Sensory Sensitivity (Sensory Sensitivities, Hyper-/Hyposensitivity)
- Heightened or reduced responses to sensory input including sounds, lights, textures, tastes, and smells. Sensory sensitivity is common among autistic people, with approximately 74% experiencing atypic…
- Shutdown (Autistic Shutdown)
- A response to overwhelming sensory, emotional, or cognitive input in which an autistic person withdraws or retreats from their environment. Unlike meltdowns (which are outward expressions of distress)…
- Stimulus Overselectivity (Tunnel Vision, Attentional Overselectivity)
- A phenomenon observed in some individuals with autism where attention is focused on a limited subset of available sensory information while other relevant stimuli are neglected. Sometimes described as…
- Weak Central Coherence (WCC, Central Coherence Theory)
- A cognitive theory proposing that individuals with autism tend to process information in a detail-focused, piecemeal way rather than integrating it into a coherent whole. In the context of web accessi…