Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
52 results found in social accessibility.
- Financial Delegation (Financial Proxy, Delegated Banking)
- The practice of relying on a trusted person — such as a family member, friend, neighbour, or support worker — to perform financial tasks on one's behalf. Financial delegation is common among older adu…
- Financial Inclusion
- The availability and equitable access to financial services and products for all individuals, regardless of disability, age, income level, geographic location, or digital literacy. In accessibility co…
- Forgotten Margins
- A term describing disabled communities and populations that remain overlooked by mainstream accessibility research and practice, typically those at the intersection of disability and other forms of ma…
- Friendsourcing
- A practice where people with disabilities turn to friends, family members, or social network contacts to obtain assistance with accessibility-related tasks, such as describing images, identifying obje…
- Healthcare Access (Healthcare Accessibility)
- The ability of disabled people to obtain timely, appropriate, and respectful healthcare services. Healthcare access barriers include physical inaccessibility of medical facilities, communication barri…
- Hybrid Space (Blended Space, Hybrid Community Space)
- A community or program environment that combines both in-person and online elements, not necessarily simultaneously, to create a more accessible and inclusive experience. In accessibility contexts, hy…
- Identity Management
- The ongoing process of controlling how one presents aspects of their identity—including disability, health conditions, gender, sexuality, occupation, and other characteristics—across different social …
- Identity Obfuscation
- The deliberate concealment or misrepresentation of aspects of one's identity to avoid discrimination, harm, or negative consequences from adversarial stakeholders. In disability and accessibility cont…
- Inspiration Porn
- The portrayal of people with disabilities as inspirational solely or primarily because of their disability, objectifying them for the benefit of non-disabled audiences. Coined by disability activist S…
- Line Standing (Queueing, Standing in line, Line navigation)
- The everyday social activity of waiting in an ordered queue — at a cashier, bus stop, check-in counter, or reception desk. For blind people, line standing is an often-overlooked accessibility challeng…
- Marginalized Communities (Marginalized Populations)
- Groups of people who are systematically excluded from full participation in society due to factors such as disability, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, immigration stat…
- Microaggression
- A subtle, often automatic remark, question, or action that communicates prejudice or negative stereotypes toward a member of a marginalized group. Originally coined by psychiatrist Chester Pierce in t…
- Mixed-Ability Interaction (Mixed-Ability Play, Mixed-Visual-Ability, Cross-Ability Interaction)
- Social interactions, activities, or collaborative experiences involving people with different levels of ability, such as sighted and visually impaired people playing a game together, or wheelchair use…
- Mixed-ability play (Inclusive play, Mixed-ability gaming)
- Game design that enables meaningful shared play experiences between people with and without disabilities, ensuring that ability differences do not prevent enjoyable social interaction. Mixed-ability p…
- Negativity bias in online communities (Online negativity bias)
- The tendency for negative experiences and opinions to be disproportionately represented in online discussion forums and social media communities compared to the broader population's experiences. In di…
- Neurotypical Masking (Masking, Social Camouflaging)
- The practice of neurodivergent individuals consciously or unconsciously suppressing their natural behaviours and adapting their communication style to conform to neurotypical social expectations. In a…
- Passing (Passing as non-disabled, Neurotypical passing)
- The act of concealing one's disability or neurodivergence to be perceived as non-disabled or neurotypical by others. Passing can be a deliberate strategy to avoid stigma, discrimination, or unwanted a…
- Peripheral Awareness (Peripheral Perception, Ambient Awareness)
- The innate ability to unconsciously maintain and constantly update a sense of one's social and physical surroundings without actively directing attention to them. In accessibility contexts, peripheral…
- Postcolonial Computing
- A critical framework that examines how technology design and adoption can perpetuate subtle dimensions of coloniality, under-represent certain regions such as the Global South and Indigenous societies…
- Power Structures (Structural Power, Power Dynamics)
- The institutional, social, and economic arrangements that distribute power unevenly across groups in society, determining who has access to resources, decision-making authority, and the ability to def…