Glossary

Ableism: Oppression faced by disabled people, or those perceived as disabled. Includes prejudice and discrimination.

Accessible: The quality of being easy to use by all people, including those with disabilities.

Autonomy: The ability and right of a person to have control over their own body and mind.

Barriers: Any obstacles, restraints, or impediments that prevent movement or access. These can be physical, like a fence, or conceptual, like an expectation of behaviour.

Capitalism: An economic system in which a country’s trade and industry is controlled by private actors to make a profit.

Chronic Disability: A disability that persists over a long period of time, sometimes the person’s whole life.

Colonialism: The policies and practices that a person or group of people engage in to exert control over an Indigenous population, as well as to exploit that Indigenous population and their land.

Disclosure: The act of sharing information about one’s disability with others.

Episodic Disability: A disability that features unpredictable episodes of illness that can vary in severity and duration, with periods of wellness in between.

Identity-first language: One way of referring to people with disabilities that puts the identity first, usually used when the individual sees their disability as an important part of their self-identity. I.e. “a blind person”.

Neurodivergent: The quality of having a brain, or mental processing, that works significantly differently from the dominant societal standard of “normalcy”. I.e., an autistic individual.

Pathologize: To treat something or someone as unhealthy or abnormal. The medical model of disability has been said to pathologize disabled people.

Permanent Disability: A mental or physical impairment that indefinitely or permanently impacts the person’s capacity.

Person-first language: One way of referring to people with disabilities that puts the person first, usually used when the individual wants to assert their humanity. I.e. “a woman with a visual impairment”.

Racism: The process by which systems and policies, actions and attitudes create inequitable opportunities and outcomes for people based on race. Racism is different from racial prejudice, hatred, or discrimination. It occurs when this prejudice – whether individual or institutional – is accompanied by the power to carry out systematic discrimination through the institutional policies and practices of the society and by shaping the cultural beliefs and values that support those racist policies and practices.

Sanism: The oppression of people who are perceived to be neurodivergent, and the societal pressure to be seen as sane or mentally “normal”.

Sexism: Prejudice and discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex. Often linked to beliefs about the fundamental nature of women and men, and the role they should play in society.

Stigma: The set of negative beliefs, attitudes, and assumptions that are held in society about a circumstance or person.

Temporary Disability: A disability that affects a person for a defined period of time. This period of time can be days, weeks, months, or years