ICT Accessibility Glossary

Introduction

This glossary was originally created for the online course Digital Accessibility: Enabling Participation in the Information Society. Since this course assumed only minimal previous knowledge of ICT and no previous knowledge of accessibility, the glossary also contains terms that should be familiar to experienced Internet users. A version in Microsoft docx format and a PDF version are available for download.

The Glossary

AAC

Augmentative and alternative communication, an umbrella term for methods and technologies (e.g. communication boards and speech-generating devices) that help people with a wide range of speech and language impairments to communicate with family, carers and other people.

Accessibility

The extent to which a product (including software, websites and documents) or service can be used by everyone, regardless of disabilities.

Accessible cash machine (ATM)

Cash machine that can be used independently by a person with a disability.

Accessible eBooks

Electronic books that can be accessed by people with disabilities.

Accessible documents

Documents that can be accessed by people with disabilities.

Accessible games

Games that can be accessed and played by people with disabilities.

Accessible learning & teaching

Learning and teaching that has no barriers for people with disabilities.

Accessible mobile apps

Applications for mobile devices that can be accessed on a mobile device by people with disabilities.

Accessible self-service kiosks

Kiosks (or self-service machines) that are accessible

• in terms of their location allowing users to find and use the machine, e.g. not sited at the top of a flight of stairs or behind a column,
• in terms of their interaction style, e.g. content has understandable language and graphics; the task and task flow understandable; feedback is meaningful to the user; and tolerance for human error, etc.
• in terms of their interface features, e.g. screens where display is visible whether a person is short or tall; alternatives to touch screens for people who cannot use them; interface components, such as knobs, levers, slots, scanners, card readers, etc. easily distinguishable using visual, tactile and audio clues; etc.

These machines are commonly targeted at the public and designed for independent use in unmanned service / product delivery situations. As convergence between different types of internet enabled devices continues, many kiosks may act as part of the delivery chain for a series of services/products. Accessibility issues must be taken into account if these services are to be used people of different abilities.

Accessible social network

Social network that can be accessed by people with disabilities.

Accessible videos & TV

Videos and television programmes that provide captions, sign language and audio description.

Accessible website

Website that can be used by people with disabilities.

Achromatopsia

Rare condition that causes the inability to perceive colour (i.e. everything is seen in white, black and shades of grey).

Ambient Assisted Living (AAL)

Intelligent and embedded technologies that aim to support people’s lives in an unobtrusive manner. In the smart-home domain, AAL technologies support an independent living of elderly people, people with chronic diseases and people with disabilities in their own homes, by the delivery of services related to their needs, including health and well-being, security, social life, energy management and remote control.

Application Programming Interface (API)

The set of commands, functions and protocols in a software system (a software application, a software library, a web service, an operating system, ...) that an external developer can use to communicate with that system, e.g. to get information from that system or to change its state (especially by manipulating data in that system). Informally, an API can be seen as a set of calling conventions.

Approaches to inclusion

Steps taken not to exclude minority groups.

ARIA

Accessible Rich Internet Applications: additional markup (tags) for web content and online applications to enable assistive technologies to work with interactive content, as well as providing additional navigational and other support mechanisms in the code.

Assistive technologies

Technologies, both hardware and software, that assist people with disabilities.

ATM

Automated teller machine (also known as cash machine), a device that allows bank customers to withdraw money and perform other financial transactions.

Audio description

Spoken description of important information (in a video) that is otherwise only available visually.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Aid

Any device that can be used to help those who cannot use spoken language and need additional support by means of symbols, images and/or text.

Braille

Tactile writing system using raised dots that is used by blind people. (Braille is traditionally written on embossed paper, where it uses 6 dots per character. On a computer, a screen reader can turn screen content into Braille, which is displayed on a refreshable Braille display, which uses 8 dots per character. Braille can also be produced with a slate and stylus, with a Braille writer, e.g. a portable Braille note-taker, or on a computer that prints with a Braille embosser.)

Button switch

A single button device the replicates an input method used with single or double pressing and holding for those with physical difficulties.

Captions

Text alternative for speech and non-speech sound in a video typically displayed at the bottom of the screen.

Cerebral palsy

A neurological condition affecting the ability of the brain to control and coordinate muscles.

Decorative image

Image that does not provide information.

Disabled people

Term used in the UK, e.g. in the Equality Act 2010, for people who have a physical or mental impairment. (See also “People with disabilities”.)

Dyslexia

A learning difficulty that may be characterised by phonological processing and working memory difficulties affecting reading and spelling skills.

[Note: Dyslexia in categorised as a “learning disability” (LD) in the USA and Canada, but in the UK, this term is associated with reduced intellectual ability, so the term “specific learning difficulties” is used instead.]

Economic aspects, business drivers

Things that can motivate organisations and people to improve something, e.g. increased sales as a consequence of improved digital accessibility.

Environmental aids

Technology that helps people interact with their environment.

Eye tracking

Eye tracking is a technique that consist in detecting where a person is looking (i.e. the person's gaze), usually by optically tracking eye motions. The technique can be used for several purposes, such as input via an on-screen keyboard or for studies that try to find out which parts of an interface most attract a user's attention.

Facebook

A social networking service with more than a billion users.

Flash animation

Application that offers multimedia experiences using the Adobe Flash software which can be made accessible when care is taken.

Google Docs

Online collaborative document writing and editing application.

Grid 2

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) software that is available for a computer or a portable device to aid spoken and written language.

ICT

Information and communications technology, i.e. the tools, both hardware and software, that people use to access, store, transfer and manipulate information.

Image description (also known as “long description”)

Detailed description of an image or other non-text content that is provided when a normal short text alternative does not suffice to represent the information of the image (e.g. for complex diagrams).

iPad

Tablet computer made by Apple.

Keyboard accessible

Accessible with a keyboard or through a keyboard interface, so that it is usable by those who cannot or do not wish to use the mouse and so that it can be reached by pressing a key or combination of keys.

Kinect

Voice and motion sensor input device made by Microsoft.

Legislation & standards

Laws and standards (“rules”), which may vary by country.

Macular degeneration

Eye condition that may result in blurred or no vision in the centre of the visual field. (The macula is an oval-shaped pigmented area near the centre of the retina of the eye.)

Medical model of disability

Medical way of looking at disability by viewing it as a problem of the individual and as directly caused by disease, trauma or other health conditions, which require medical care. (See also “Social model of disability”.)

Minecraft

Video game using digital building blocks.

MOOC

Massive open online course, i.e. an online course that can be accessed by an unlimited audience, and that typically uses videos, readings, quizzes and discussion forums.

On-screen keyboard

Virtual keyboard displayed on screen allowing access without a physical keyboard.

OCR

Optical character recognition, the conversion of images of text into characters.

PDF

Portable Document Format, a file format that describes the layout and graphical features of a document in a manner that is independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. Originally developed by Adobe, PDF became an ISO standard in 2008. PDF documents with accessibility features are often referred to as “tagged PDF”.

People with disabilities

Term used in the USA and in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, for people who have a physical or mental impairment. (See also “Disabled people”.)

QR code

Quick Response code, a type of two-dimensional barcode.

Retinitis pigmentosa

Degenerative eye disease characterised by changes in the retina, leading to night blindness, reduced peripheral vision and eventually blindness.

RFID

Radio-frequency identification, a technology that uses electromagnetic fields created by tiny computer chips to identify and track objects.

Rheumatoid arthritis

Autoimmune disorder that typically results in warm, swollen and painful joints, especially in the wrists and hands.

Screen reader

Software program that enables a blind person to get information from the screen through synthetic speech, Braille or both, and that goes beyond pure text-to-speech software because it also reads user interface elements such as navigational features and menus.

Smart home

Digitally enabled home with intelligent sensors.

SMS

Short messaging service, more commonly called text messaging.

Social model of disability

Social theory that regards people as being disabled by society’s lack of accommodation for their needs, and that is a reaction to the medical model of disability. (See also “Medical model of disability”.)

Speech recognition

The recognition of speech by software or hardware (or both) and the translation of that speech into text or commands to control software. (See also “Voice control”.)

Switch access

A device that offers activation and entry to an application in a similar way to an input device — it may be a button, pad or mini joystick type for those with physical difficulties.

Tactile graphics

Images that use raised patterns that can be perceived through touch.

Text equivalent

Text information explaining the purpose of an image or other non-text object.

Text-to-speech software

Type of application that uses synthetic speech to read selected text aloud and that can be used to help those with reading difficulties. Unlike screen reading, not all the items on a screen are read unless chosen.

Transcript

Text alternative for audio or video containing a correctly sequenced transcription of the speech, and descriptions of non-speech sounds and (in the case of a video) key visual information in the media resource.

TTY

Teletypewriter (also known as textphone or telecommunications device for the deaf), i.e. a device that helps people with hearing or speech impairments to use text communication over a telephone line.

Usability

The extent to which a particular user or group of users can use a digital technology to achieve their goals.

User-centred design (UCD)

Design philosophy that includes end users in every stage of the design process.

User experience

Any experience of a user that is related to the use of a technology.

User interface personalisation

The process of adapting user interfaces to the specific users, at development time or at runtime. Such adaptations accommodate some aspects of use context, including the user’s personal preferences and needs (e.g. due to disability), the device(s) and assistive technologies being used as part of the runtime platform, and the concrete situation of use (location properties such as ambient light and noise).

User testing

Testing by end users rather than by the developers.

Visual perception disorder

Disorder affecting the ability to understand information visually.

Voice control

The use of the human voice to control software, hardware or both, including assistive technology. (See also “Speech recognition”).

Web accessibility

The extent to which a web technology can be used by everyone.

Xbox

Games machine developed by Microsoft.

YouTube

Video hosting website owned by Google.