Ableism: Discrimination or unfair treatment of people with disabilities. It means people with disabilities are treated badly or seen as less important just because they have disabilities.
Academic: Related to education, schools, or learning.
Accessible: When people with disabilities can easily use something. We can easily get around somewhere. We feel like we belong there.
Accessibility: How easy it is to reach, enter, or use something.
Accommodations: Changes that make things easier for people with disabilities. They help us get the same things as non-disabled people.
Adaptation: Changing or adjusting to make something easier or more comfortable.
Advocacy: Speaking up for yourself or others to support what is needed or fair.
Advocates: People who support or speak up for others.
Affect: To make a change or have an impact on something.
Analyze: To look at something carefully to understand it better.
Aspects: Different parts or features of something.
Assumptions: Beliefs or ideas that are accepted as true without proof.
Auditory recordings: Recording what you say so people can listen to it later.
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC): It includes anything that helps you share ideas. Some kinds of AAC are writing, pointing to letters and words, or typing words on a computer.
Authenticity: Being real or true to oneself.
Autistic: Relating to autism, a condition that affects communication and behavior.
Autism awareness: Understanding what autism is and knowing that people on the autism spectrum may think or act differently.
Awareness: Knowing or understanding something.
Beneficence: Doing good or causing good to be done.
Benefits: Money you get from the government. It also means the good things you get from doing a project.
Biases: Unfair preferences or dislikes.
Collaboration: Working together with others to achieve something.
Collaboratively: Working together with others.
Committee: A group of people who make decisions or plans.
Communication: Sharing information or ideas with others.
Community: A group of people living in the same area or having common interests.
Comparative: Looking at the differences and similarities between things.
Compensation: A payment or gift given to someone for their work or help.
Conferences: A large meeting.
Confidentiality: Keeping information private or secret.
Consequences: The results or effects of an action.
Consulted: To ask someone for advice or information.
Co-occurring conditions: Health issues that happen at the same time, like autism and anxiety.
Course credits: The number of points earned by completing a class.
Data: Information or facts collected for a purpose.
Decision Making: The process of choosing what to do.
Dialogue: A conversation between two or more people.
Differences in thinking: The unique ways that people understand or process information.
Disclosure: Sharing information about yourself. For example telling others that you have a disability.
Discover: To find out or learn something new.
Dissemination: Spreading information to many people.
Duration: How long something lasts.
Dysregulated: Feeling out of control or unable to manage your emotions.
Effective: Something that works well and gets the desired results.
Effectiveness: How well something works.
Emotional awareness: Knowing what you feel inside.
Emotional expression: Showing how you feel, like by smiling or crying.
Empathy: Understanding how someone else feels and caring about their feelings.
Engagement: Involvement or participation in something.
Equitable: Fair and equal for everyone.
Ethical: Doing things that are morally right.
Expectations: What people believe, or hope will happen. How you think people should act in a situation.
Expertise: Being very good at something or knowing a lot about something.
Facilitated Communication: A way of helping people who have trouble speaking to share their thoughts, often by typing or pointing to words with support.
Facilitator: The person who runs a meeting. They help a group work well together and stay on track.
Findings: The results or information found from research or study.
Flexibility: Being able to change or adjust easily.
Focus: To concentrate on something.
Focus group: People brought together to discuss their opinions on a topic.
Grants: Money given for a specific purpose, like research or projects.
Group culture: Everyone in a group agrees on what is important. They also share things they do together.
Guiding principles: Important ideas or rules that guide how a group makes decisions.
Healthcare: Services provided to keep people healthy and treat illnesses.
History: The study of past events.
Identity preference: The way someone wants to be known, like picking a specific name or pronoun to use.
Identify: To recognize or find out what something is.
Important: Something that matters a lot or has great value.
Improve: To make something better.
Inclusion: Making sure everyone is included and can take part.
Inclusive: Making sure everyone feels welcome and valued, especially people who might be left out.
Individualized: Make or design something to meet the needs of one specific person.
Institutional: Related to an organization or institution.
Institutions: Important organizations, like schools or hospitals.
Interaction: Communication or direct involvement with someone or something.
Internalized ableism: When someone starts believing negative ideas about themselves because of how others treat them. Ableism can make disabled people feel bad about ourselves. Ableism can make us think we deserve to be treated badly.
Intervention: Getting involved in a situation to help change it.
Introduce: To bring something into use or to make something known for the first time.
Invalid: Not being reliable or correct.
Language considerations: Choosing words carefully to respect people’s identities or feelings.
Mentorship: A relationship where someone with more experience teaches someone who is learning.
Method: A way of doing something.
Methodology: A set of methods or ways of doing something.
Misdiagnosed: When someone is told they have an illness or condition they don’t actually have.
Misunderstanding: A failure to understand something correctly.
Module: A part or section of a course or program.
Neurodiversity: The idea that people think and experience the world in different ways, and all ways are valuable.
Onboarding: Introducing new people to a group or job and helping them understand what they need to know.
Observations: Watching something carefully to learn about it.
Opportunity: A chance to do something.
Optional: Something you can choose to do or not do.
Organizations: Groups of people who work together for a common purpose.
Overstimulated: Feeling overwhelmed by too much noise, light, or activity.
Participants: People who take part in an activity or study.
Participation: Being involved in an activity or event.
Participatory: When everyone gets involved and takes part in something.
Partnerships: Working together with someone or a group to achieve something.
Perspective: A way of looking at something.
Plain language: Information that is easy for people to understand.
Policy: A set of rules or a plan made by an organization or government.
Positive impact: A change that improves things or helps people.
Principles: Basic rules or beliefs that guide actions.
Priorities: Things that are considered more important than others.
Process information: Understand and think about what you see, hear, or read.
Pronouns: Words like he, she or they. We use pronouns to talk about people without using names.
Proposals: Plans or suggestions for consideration.
Qualitative: Related to the quality or characteristics of something.
Quantitative: Related to measuring or counting things.
Questionnaire: A set of questions used to gather information.
Reasonable accommodations: Changes made to help people participate. Accommodations that make sense for your job. It also means the accommodations are things your job can do.
Recognized: To know or remember something because you have seen it before. Giving credit to someone for their work.
Requirements: Things that are needed or must be done.
Research partners: People who work together to learn new things about the world. They try to answer questions or solve problems.
Researcher: A person who studies a topic to learn more about it.
Resources: Supplies or materials that can be used to help you.
Respect: Showing care and consideration for others.
Responsibility for connection: Each person makes an effort to understand and communicate with others.
Self-advocacy: Speaking up for yourself and your needs.
Self-advocates: People who support and speak up for people like them
Self-care strategies: Things you do to take care of your emotional, physical and mental health.
Sensory and motor: This refers to the senses, like hearing, seeing, or touching, and how the body moves.
Sensory and motor differences: People experience their senses and control their movements in different ways. For example, some people may feel sounds very strongly or have trouble controlling certain movements.
Sensory: Related to the senses, like touch, taste, sight, sound, and smell.
Simulated: Made to look, feel, or act like something real.
Social environment: The people, groups, and communities around you.
Specific: Clearly defined or exact.
Spectrum: A range or variety, often used to describe the different ways people experience autism.
Statistics: Related to numbers and data.
Stigma: A negative or unfair feeling about someone because they are different.
Strategies: A plan used to reach a goal or solve a problem.
Systemic ableism: Rules and ideas in society that can unfairly affect people with disabilities.
Timelines: A schedule of when tasks need to be done.
Tolerance: Accepting differences and not judging others.
Transcript: A written record of what was said or done.
Transparency: Being open and honest.
Uncovering: Finding out or revealing something that was hidden.
Valid: Being reliable or correct.
Validate: Proving something is correct or true.
Validity: How correct or believable something is.
Verbal information: Sharing information through spoken words.
Video conference: Using the internet to hold a meeting, like on Zoom.