Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
28 results found in orientation and mobility.
- Shorelining (Trailing)
- An orientation and mobility technique in which a person with a visual impairment follows a consistent surface edge — such as a wall, curb, edge of a sidewalk, or other contrasting surface — to maintai…
- Sighted Guide (Sighted Guide Technique, Human Guide)
- A technique in which a sighted person assists a blind or low vision individual with navigation and orientation by serving as a visual reference and mobility aid. In physical settings, the blind person…
- Sighted Memory (Visual Memory, Sighted Recall)
- A mental representation of a physical environment developed through past visual experience, used by people who lose their sight later in life to navigate and understand spaces they previously knew vis…
- Smart Cane (Electronic Cane, Intelligent Cane)
- An enhanced version of the traditional white cane that incorporates electronic sensors — typically ultrasonic or infrared — to detect obstacles beyond the range of physical contact, providing haptic o…
- Spatial Orientation and Navigation (SON, Orientation and Navigation)
- The set of skills and strategies used to understand one's position in space, plan routes, and travel from one location to another. For blind and low-vision individuals, spatial orientation and navigat…
- Spatial Representation (Spatial Mental Model)
- A cognitive structure that encodes information about the layout, distances, and relationships between locations in an environment. For blind and partially sighted people, spatial representations are b…
- Travel Chain (Mobility Chain, Journey Chain)
- A travel chain is the complete sequence of connected stages that make up a journey from origin to destination, including planning, leaving the starting point, walking to transport, using public transp…
- White Cane (Long Cane, Mobility Cane, Blind Cane)
- A lightweight, typically white or white-with-red-tip cane used by blind and visually impaired individuals as a mobility aid for detecting obstacles, changes in terrain, and environmental features whil…