Glossary of Digital Accessibility Terms and Abbreviations

Glossary of Digital Accessibility Terms and Abbreviations

Accessibility Laws and Regulations

United States

• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): A U.S. civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities. Its requirements apply to covered services, programs, and activities, including those provided online.
• ADA Title II: The part of the ADA that applies to state and local governments. A 2024 U.S. Department of Justice rule established specific accessibility requirements for their web content and mobile apps, using WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the technical standard. ADA Title II Web and Mobile Application Accessibility Rule.
• Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act: A U.S. civil rights law that prohibits disability discrimination by programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance.
• Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act: Requires U.S. federal agencies to make their information and communication technology accessible to people with disabilities.

European Union

• EU Web Accessibility Directive: Requires public-sector websites and mobile apps in European Union member states to meet accessibility requirements.
• European Accessibility Act (EAA): European Union legislation that establishes accessibility requirements for certain products and services.

Canada

• Accessible Canada Act (ACA): Canadian federal accessibility legislation focused on identifying, removing, and preventing barriers in areas under federal jurisdiction, with the goal of a barrier-free Canada by 2040.

Government Agencies and Accessibility Organizations

• International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP): A professional association that offers accessibility education, resources, networking opportunities, and professional certifications. 
• U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR): Enforces federal civil rights laws prohibiting disability discrimination in education, including Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and Title II of the ADA.
• U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ): The federal agency responsible for enforcing key provisions of the ADA and issuing regulations and guidance on disability rights and accessibility.
• Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI): A World Wide Web Consortium initiative that develops standards, guidelines, and educational resources related to web accessibility.
• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C): An international standards organization that develops technical standards and guidelines for the web, including accessibility standards created through WAI.

 Accessibility Standards and Guidelines

• Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG): W3C guidelines for making authoring tools accessible and helping people create accessible content.
• EN 301 549: A European accessibility standard for information and communication technology, including requirements applicable to websites, documents, software, and mobile apps.
• Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust (POUR): The four principles used to organize WCAG requirements.
  • Perceivable: Information and interface components must be presented in ways users can perceive.
  • Operable: Interface components and navigation must be usable through supported input methods.
  • Understandable: Information and the operation of the interface must be understandable.
  • Robust: Content must be compatible with current and future technologies, including assistive technologies.
• Revised Section 508 Standards: Accessibility requirements for information and communication technology developed, procured, maintained, or used by U.S. federal agencies. 
• User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG): W3C guidelines for making browsers, media players, and other user agents accessible to people with disabilities.
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG): An international technical standard developed by W3C for making web content more accessible to people with disabilities. WCAG 2.2 is the latest WCAG 2 Recommendation. WCAG 2.0 and WCAG 2.1 remain W3C Recommendations and continue to be referenced by laws, policies, and standards. 
  • Level A: Addresses foundational accessibility requirements. Failure to meet these requirements can create significant barriers.
  • Level AA: Addresses common and significant accessibility barriers. Level AA is the conformance level most frequently referenced by accessibility policies and legal requirements.
  • Level AAA: Represents the highest WCAG conformance level. Some Level AAA requirements may not be applicable or achievable for every type of content.

 Accessibility Compliance and Planning Documents

• Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR): A completed report describing how a product or service conforms to applicable accessibility standards. An ACR is often created by completing a VPAT.
• Accessibility Roadmap: A plan identifying an organization’s accessibility goals, priorities, responsibilities, milestones, and proposed improvements.
• Accessibility Statement: A public statement describing an organization’s commitment to accessibility, applicable standards, known limitations, and methods for requesting assistance or reporting barriers.
• Higher Education Community Vendor Assessment Toolkit (HECVAT): A questionnaire used by higher-education institutions to evaluate technology vendors. Depending on the version used, the questionnaire may address areas such as information security, privacy, and accessibility.
• Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT®): A reporting template used to document how an information and communication technology product or service conforms to accessibility standards. The completed document is generally called an Accessibility Conformance Report.

General Accessibility Concepts 

• Accessibility (A11Y): The practice of designing products, services, and content so people with disabilities can access and use them. “A11Y” represents the 11 letters between “A” and “Y.”
• Digital Accessibility: The practice of making websites, software, mobile apps, and electronic documents accessible to people with disabilities.
• Information and Communication Technology (ICT): Technology used to create, access, store, or communicate information, including websites, software, hardware, electronic documents, and mobile apps. 
• Universal Design (UD): An approach to designing products and environments so they can be used by as many people as possible.
• Universal Design for Learning (UDL): A framework for designing flexible learning experiences that accommodate different ways of engaging with, accessing, and demonstrating knowledge.

Assistive Technologies

• Assistive Technology (AT): Hardware, software, or equipment that helps people with disabilities access information and interact with digital content.
• Braille Display: A device that presents digital text using refreshable braille characters.
• Assistive Technology (AT): Hardware, software, or equipment that helps people with disabilities access information and interact with digital content.
• JAWS: A screen reader used to navigate computers, websites, applications, and electronic documents.
• NVDA: A screen reader for Windows. NVDA stands for NonVisual Desktop Access.
• Screen Magnifier: Assistive technology that enlarges screen content for people with low vision.
• Screen Reader: Assistive technology that presents digital content through synthesized speech, braille, or both and provides commands for navigating and interacting with content.
• Speech-to-Text (STT): Technology that converts spoken language into written text.
• Text-to-Speech (TTS): Technology that converts digital text into synthesized speech.
• VoiceOver: A screen reader included with Apple operating systems.

Accessible Content and Documents

• Accessible Name: The name of an interface element communicated to assistive technologies, such as the text that identifies a button or form control.

• Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA or WAI-ARIA): Attributes that provide assistive technologies with additional information about interface elements. ARIA should supplement appropriate HTML rather than replace it.

• Alt Text: A text alternative that communicates the purpose or meaning of an image.

• Audio Description (AD): Narration that describes important visual information in video content.

• Captions or Closed Captions (CC): Synchronized text representing speech and other meaningful audio information in multimedia.

• Color Contrast: The visual difference between foreground content and its background.

• Color Contrast Ratio: A numerical measurement of contrast between two colors. WCAG Level AA generally requires at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text.

• Document Accessibility: The practice of creating electronic documents that people with disabilities and assistive technologies can access and use.

• Focus Indicator: A visible indication showing which interactive element currently has keyboard focus.

• Form Label: Text that identifies the purpose of a form field or control.

• Heading Levels: Hierarchical headings that organize content and help users navigate and understand its structure.

• Keyboard Navigation: The ability to navigate and operate digital content using a keyboard or keyboard-equivalent input.

• PDF Accessibility: The practice of creating or remediating PDFs so people with disabilities and assistive technologies can access their content and structure.

• PDF Remediation: The process of correcting accessibility barriers in a PDF.

• PDF Tags: Structural information that identifies elements such as headings, paragraphs, lists, tables, links, and images in a PDF.

• Reading Order: The sequence in which content is presented to assistive technologies.

• Reflow: The ability of content to adapt when magnified or displayed in a narrow viewport without losing information or functionality.

• Semantic HTML: HTML elements used according to their intended meaning so browsers and assistive technologies can understand the structure of content.

• Skip Navigation Link: A link that allows users to bypass repeated content and move directly to the main content.

• Transcript: A text representation of speech and other meaningful audio information.

For more information, please contact the IT Accessibility Center at itaccessibilitycenter@missouri.edu or call (573) 884-2828.