Glossary

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

6660 terms — page 6 of 333

ASL Grammar (American Sign Language Grammar)
The linguistic rules governing the structure and use of American Sign Language, which differs fundamentally from English grammar. ASL has its own syntax, morphology, and phonology, with word order, sp…
ASL Linguistic Markers (Non-Manual Markers, Non-Manual Signals, ASL Facial Grammar)
Facial expressions, head movements, and body postures that serve grammatical and semantic functions in American Sign Language and other sign languages, distinct from emotional facial expressions. Comm…
ASL education technology (Sign language learning technology)
Technology designed to support the teaching and learning of American Sign Language, ranging from video-based instructional platforms and feedback systems to computer vision tools that analyse signing …
ASLTA (American Sign Language Teachers Association)
A US-based professional association founded to support and certify ASL educators. ASLTA publishes curriculum standards, offers certification at multiple levels (Provisional, Qualified, Professional, M…
ASR Captioning (Automatic Captioning, Live Auto-Captioning, AI Captioning)
The use of automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology to generate real-time text captions of spoken language, commonly used as an accessibility tool for Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals in meet…
ASSETS (ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility)
The premier academic conference on accessible computing, organized by ACM SIGACCESS (Special Interest Group on Accessible Computing). ASSETS began as a research conference planned by SIGCAPH (the pred…
AT Abandonment (Assistive Technology Abandonment, Device Abandonment)
The discontinuation of use of an assistive technology device by its intended user. AT abandonment rates are significant, with research showing that up to one-third of all assistive devices are abandon…
AT Impact Framework (ATIF, Assistive Technology Impact Framework)
A multi-level conceptual framework for evaluating the impact of assistive technology interventions on quality of life, developed from longitudinal research with smartphone users with sensory disabilit…
AT Information Access (Assistive Technology Information Access)
The ability of people with disabilities, caregivers, professionals, and other stakeholders to find, understand, and use information about assistive technology products and services. Effective AT infor…
AT Service Delivery (Assistive Technology Service Delivery)
The systems, processes, and organizational structures through which assistive technology devices and services reach end users. Effective AT service delivery encompasses needs assessment, device select…
ATAG (Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines)
A W3C standard that provides guidelines for making authoring tools—such as content management systems, HTML editors, and website builders—both accessible to authors with disabilities and capable of pr…
ATK (Accessibility Toolkit, Linux Accessibility Toolkit, AT-SPI)
ATK (Accessibility Toolkit) is the accessibility framework for the Linux desktop environment, providing an API through which applications expose their user interface elements to assistive technologies…
ATutor
ATutor is an open-source web-based Learning Management System (LMS) developed at the University of Toronto's Adaptive Technology Resource Centre (ATRC, now the Inclusive Design Research Centre) with a…
Abacus (Cranmer Abacus, Counting Frame)
A manual calculating tool consisting of a frame with rods and movable beads used for arithmetic operations. For visually impaired users, adapted versions like the Cranmer abacus feature beads that sta…
Abandonment of Assistive Technology (Assistive Technology Abandonment, AT Abandonment, Assistive Technology Discontinuance)
Abandonment of assistive technology is the well-documented phenomenon in which a substantial proportion of assistive devices acquired by disabled users — commonly reported in the literature at roughly…
Ability Assumptions (Ability-Based Assumptions, Normative Assumptions)
Ability assumptions are the implicit expectations that technology designers build into systems about users' physical, sensory, and cognitive capabilities. These assumptions — about how fast someone mo…
Ability Bias (Ability-Based Bias, Disability Bias)
A form of social bias encoded in artificial intelligence systems, particularly large language models, that reflects stereotypical or discriminatory assumptions about people with disabilities. Ability …
Ability Heuristics
A set of nine accessibility-focused design heuristics — Adaptability, Equitable Experience, Flexible Task Completion, Efficiency and Effectiveness of User Action, Multiple Modalities, Understandable M…
Ability Model (Ability-Based User Model)
A representation of a user that focuses on what they can do rather than demographic characteristics or disability categories. Unlike traditional user models that capture preferences, background, or im…
Ability assumption in AI (Visual ability assumption, Sighted bias in AI)
The tendency of AI systems to assume users possess typical sensory, cognitive, or physical abilities, leading to inappropriate responses or instructions. In the context of visual AI assistants for bli…