Acronyms, Glossary, and Terms

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About Digital Accessibility
Glossary and Terms

Page Summary

This page is a reference for acronyms and terms you'll see on our site as you learn more about digital accessibility (a11y). It contains usage guidelines for key terms.

Remember: Just like security -- digital accessibility methods change as we learn more and as technology changes. This list will be updated regularly as we integrate new concepts and

Acronyms: Accessibility acronyms and their meanings

Select a card to learn the meaning of each acronym:

AAC

Augmented and Alternative Communication (AAC) - devices, analog or electronic to supply natural speech

ACR

Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) - A completed version of the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT®) - which details the accessibility of Information and Communication software and services and their conformance to the Revised 508 Standards.

Best practices

Know that ACR and VPAT are often used interchangeably
Request an ACR or VPAT® when evaluating, renewing, or purchasing Information and Communication Technology (ICT). This will enable the accessibility features and compliance to be evaluated along with the product's other offerings.
Review the document. Having a document doesn't mean that the product is accessible. How accessible the product is, or isn't will be detailed in the document.
Ask for the methods used to certify the application and to see the accessibility reports

ADA

Americans with Disability Act (ADA)

Artificial Intelligence - programming computers to simulate human thoughts and behaviors

ASL

American Sign Language (ASL) - is a language with its own grammar, sentence structure, etc. that is communicated via gestures and facial expressions. ASL is not simply signed English.

ASR

Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) - Computer-generated live captioning of speech to text, such as Apple's Live Captions or Google's Live Caption.

Assistive Technology (AT) - Physical devices or software that allows users with disabilities access to technologies they wouldn't be able to operate otherwise. Some examples include screen readers or physical switches.

ATAG

Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) - Guidelines covering accessibility of authoring tools, so applications are operable for all users.

CAPTCHA

CAPTCHA - Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart

CART

Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) - A realtime, word-for-word translation by an individual for others, that is displayed on a monitor or device for reading during classes, appointments, and other live conversations

CVAA

The 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA)

DEAM

Disability Employment Awareness Month (DEAM) - celebrated by the State of Texas every October.

DOJ

Department of Justice (DOJ) -- The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) establishes accessibility rights as civil rights. The DOJ is the government entity that regulates this area, though there aren't currently any specific requirements or standards provided.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - (singular) A list of the most commonly asked questions on a specific topic.

Usage

FAQ - is a list of frequent questions
FAQs - is a list of multiple FAQ lists
FAQ's - is possessive and would rarely be used, for example, "I was looking at the FAQ's formatting) This should never be a header for a FAQ

ICT

Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

IDD

Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD)

IDPD

International Day of Persons with Disabilities - The International Day of Persons with Disabilities is December 3rd.

JAWS

Job Access With Speech (JAWS) - screen reader software that can be purchased to run on Microsoft Windows machines.

NIDCD

National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

NIH

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

NVDA

Non-Visual Digital Access (NVDA) - free add-on screen reader software for Microsoft Windows machines.

Success Criterion - The SC indicates how to verify conformance with each Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standard.

UGC

User generated content (UGC) - Content the the user of an app or page adds, enters, or uploads.

USWDS

U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) - the U.S. Web Design System is a framework from the federal government to assist developers in creating accessible websites via accessible components, templates, utilities, etc.

VPAT

Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT®) - which details the accessibility of Information and Communication software and services and their conformance to the Revised 508 Standards. When the VPAT is complete it creates an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR).

Best practices

Know that ACR and VPAT are often used interchangeably
Request an ACR or VPAT® when evaluating, renewing, or purchasing Information and Communication Technology (ICT). This will enable the accessibility features and compliance to be evaluated along with the product's other offerings.
Review the document. Having a document doesn't mean that the product is accessible. How accessible the product is, or isn't will be detailed in the document.
Ask for the methods used to certify the application and to see the accessibility reports

Glossary: Terms and their definitions

Select a card to read the definition of each term.

contextual link

A link in the content area of the page, not in a navigation or footer area, etc.

external link

A link pointing to a page on a different domain. For example, a page on on our site https://www.utmb.edu from another company https://www.example.com.

internal link

A link pointing to a page on the same domain. For example https://www.utmb.edu linking to https://www.utmb.edu/web.

Narrator

Microsoft Narrator is the default screenreader software for Microsoft Windows.

navigation link

Links from the navigation (top, sidebars, footers, etc) to other pages on a site.

orphan page

A page on a site that isn't linked to (connected) from any other page. This means that a crawler (including an accessibility crawler or search engine ) will not be able to find the page.

paratransit

Paratransit - direct pick up and drop-off as alternative to scheduled public transportation

screen reader

Screen readers are programs for electronic devices (desktops, laptops, mobile devices) that can use the device's speakers to read the text out loud to the user. They use text-to-speech programming to speak the text so that the words sound like words. Screen readers can be customized to speak faster or slower, change voices, and even speak in multiple languages. Typically used by users that are blind or have low vision, there are benefits for all users, for example new language translation programs that can allow two people who speak different languages to communicate in real time.

Usage

Correct: screen reader

lowercase (unless at the beginning of a sentence)
no hyphens or dashes

Incorrect: screenreader or screen-reader

TalkBack

Google TalkBack is the default screen reader software for Google Chrome and Android.

VoiceOver

Apple VoiceOver is the default screen reader software for MacOS, IOS, WatchOS, and iPadOS.

Usage: Correct usage of key terms

Select a card to learn correct usage for each term.

Email (email) is a shortening of electronic mail. Email is now the accepted usage and spelling and should be used instead of deprecated terms (e-mail, e mail, etc.)

email is the correct way to shorten electronic mail

lowercase (unless at the beginning of a sentence)
no hyphens or dashes

Incorrect

e-mail
Email

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - (singular) A list of the most commonly asked questions on a specific topic.

Usage

FAQ - is a list of frequent questions
FAQs - is a list of multiple FAQ lists
FAQ's - is possessive and would rarely be used, for example, "I was looking at the FAQ's formatting) This should never be a header for a FAQ

screen reader