Experience Harvesting
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Collecting lived-experience stories to generate funding, branding, or prestige—while offering little to no return to those who shared them.
scope note: Mining Pain for Content or Clout
in scheme: Glossary Of Extractive Allyship
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Glossary Of Weaponised Access
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
description: Not all “access” is access. These terms unpack how institutions weaponise the language of inclusion while reinforcing control. This glossary is a semantic safeguard — exposing the ways that accommodations can be restructured into surveillance, dependency, and gatekeeping.
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Ally Claiming
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Publicly identifying as an “ally” without doing the hard work of redistribution, structural change, or accountability.
scope note: Declaring Solidarity Without Risk
in scheme: Glossary Of Extractive Allyship
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Masked Minimising
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Responding to someone’s hardship with upbeat clichés or silver linings that deflect from what they’re actually feeling or saying.
scope note: Dismissing Pain with a Grin
in scheme: Glossary of Weaponised Positivity
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Distributed Accountability Collapse
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: The breakdown of accountability caused by governance systems spreading responsibility across so many actors, committees, frameworks and jurisdictions that meaningful enforcement becomes difficult or impossible. This term names architectural failure. It should not be used to blame individual workers when responsibility has been structurally diffused by the system itself.
scope note: When Governance Structures Become Too Diffuse to Fail Clearly
in scheme: Glossary of Legislation Laundering
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Clinical Watermarking
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When neurodivergent people must have their insights or needs “confirmed” by professionals to be seen as valid—undermining lived expertise and requiring gatekeeper approval to exist.
scope note: Needing a Therapist’s Signature to Be Believed
in scheme: Glossary Of Neurodivergent Pattern Theft
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Infantilising Reassurance
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Offering hollow comfort or oversimplified advice that ignores a person’s depth, complexity, or autonomy — often in a patronising tone.
scope note: Talking Down in the Name of Comfort
in scheme: Glossary of Weaponised Positivity
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Sanitised Survival
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Turning a complex, painful lived experience into an inspirational story that removes the systemic context — making it easier to consume, but harder to challenge.
scope note: Rewriting Struggle as Inspiration
in scheme: Glossary Of Narrative Laundering
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Policy Stack Saturation
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: The accumulation of policies, frameworks, standards, procedures, audits and compliance obligations to the point where systems become internally contradictory, unmanageable or functionally inaccessible. Policy Stack Saturation often creates implementation bottlenecks, inaccessible compliance systems, worker overload, governance confusion and symbolic rather than operational compliance.
scope note: When Systems Collapse Under Their Own Governance Layers
in scheme: Glossary of Legislation Laundering
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Reflective Displacement
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Centres the ally’s feelings about injustice instead of the injustice itself—shifting focus and labour back onto the marginalised person.
scope note: Making Your Guilt the Main Character
in scheme: Glossary Of Extractive Allyship
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Mechanism
type: Class
comment: A process through which a named pattern produces or sustains an effect.

Semantic Governance Drift
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: The gradual divergence of terminology, definitions and governance language across systems, resulting in semantic fragmentation. Semantic Governance Drift weakens interoperability, implementation, accountability, evaluation and participation.
scope note: When Every Framework Uses Different Language for the Same Problem
in scheme: Glossary of Legislation Laundering
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Compliance Entrapment
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When a person follows the official rules but still ends up penalised because the system's true expectations are unspoken, inconsistent, or change without notice.
scope note: Punished for Following the Rules
in scheme: Glossary of System-Led Distortion
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Neurocorrective Framing
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Reframing neurodivergence as dysfunction that needs correcting, rather than validating it as a legitimate cognitive experience.
scope note: Rewording Neurodivergence as Defect
in scheme: Glossary of Co-opted Patterns
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Benevolent Downgrade
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When a person accepts help, but that help limits their options, reduces their independence, or removes authorship. The system frames it as benevolent while decreasing quality of life.
scope note: Support That Lowers Capacity
in scheme: Glossary of System-Led Distortion
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Algorithmic Appropriation
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Using patterns of trauma-informed, neurodivergent, or marginalised communication to boost AI responses or engagement—while locking the original authors out of visibility or credit.
scope note: When the Feed Eats the Author
in scheme: Glossary Of Digital Sovereignty
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Dead-End Referral
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When a person is redirected endlessly between services, none of which are equipped to provide real help. A bureaucratic loop that leads nowhere.
scope note: Being Sent Somewhere That Can’t Help
in scheme: Glossary Of Structural Disappearance
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Semantic Sovereignty
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: The right to define, anchor, and distribute your own meaning — without institutional reframing. A core concept of SSA™ and the reason behind this glossary.
scope note: Owning the Meaning You Make
in scheme: Strategic Self-Advocacy™ Lexicon
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

SSA™
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: A trauma-informed, systems-aware framework for reclaiming power. SSA™ is not a method of “being better behaved in broken systems.” It’s a protocol layer for surviving and influencing them with your dignity intact.
scope note: Strategic Self-Advocacy
in scheme: Strategic Self-Advocacy™ Lexicon
related: Protocol Layer
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Data Disappearance
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When policies or forms fail to record key information — erasing experiences from official records and removing them from public concern.
scope note: When the Numbers Don’t Show the Harm
in scheme: Glossary Of Structural Disappearance
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Barrier Redecoration
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Rebranding a service with inclusive words or new graphics while leaving the original exclusionary design unchanged.
scope note: Changing the Language, Not the Structure
in scheme: Glossary Of Institutional Mimicry
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Digital Dependency Trap
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When support is moved online in the name of “accessibility,” but results in even less accountability — and no one to talk to when the system breaks.
scope note: Platforms That Replace Human Support — Then Fail
in scheme: Glossary Of Weaponised Access
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Gatekept Liberation
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When only the most “palatable” or institutionally aligned people get access to opportunity — while others are labelled difficult, dangerous, or non-compliant for needing the same things.
scope note: Only Some Get Out — And Only If They Behave
in scheme: Glossary Of Weaponised Access
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Accessibility Dilution
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: The weakening of accessibility obligations by dispersing them across multiple frameworks, standards, strategies and policies without creating unified operational infrastructure. Accessibility Dilution is especially visible when AAC, Easy Read, sensory access, supported decision-making and communication access are named across documents but not connected to enforceable standards, funding, review or implementation evidence.
scope note: When Accessibility Exists Everywhere and Therefore Nowhere
in scheme: Glossary of Legislation Laundering
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Formfield Distortion
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When the design of systems (e.g. government forms, assessments, or online portals) forces a person to misrepresent themselves in order to access support. This distorts identity and data while punishing honesty.
scope note: When the Form Doesn’t Fit the Person
in scheme: Glossary of System-Led Distortion
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Splaining
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: “Splaining” is not a typo. It’s a pattern. These terms expose tactics that reframe harm as help, control as care, and oppression as oversight. When someone insists they’re helping—but their help strips you of autonomy, authorship, or agency.
scope note: Power Dressed as Care
in scheme: Glossary of Co-opted Patterns
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Legitimacy Deficit
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When the value of your lived experience is dismissed because you don’t have the “right” accreditation or institutional label — even if your outcomes speak for themselves.
scope note: When You're Qualified — But Not Recognised
in scheme: Glossary Of Gatekeeping Devices
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Insight Extraction
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Consulting communities for their ideas, then converting those ideas into institutionally owned frameworks, campaigns, or products—often stripped of context and credit.
scope note: Gathering Lived Experience as Raw Material
in scheme: Glossary Of Digital Extraction
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Gratitude Gaslighting
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Insisting that people be “grateful” for crumbs of support — even when those crumbs are harmful, insufficient, or humiliating.
scope note: Forcing Thanks Where There Should Be Change
in scheme: Glossary of Weaponised Positivity
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Optics Over Ownership
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When people with lived experience are invited to a table but not allowed to set the agenda—or are only included to validate predetermined outcomes.
scope note: Inviting Us In, Then Talking Over Us
in scheme: Glossary Of Coercive Collaboration
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Framework Flooding
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: The production of excessive frameworks, strategies, policies, agreements or action plans that overwhelm communities, workers or advocates with procedural complexity. Framework Flooding creates exhaustion, fragmentation and navigational overload while allowing institutions to continue signalling progress.
scope note: Drowning Communities in Strategy Documents
in scheme: Glossary of Legislation Laundering
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Administrative Invisibility
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When someone is denied access because they don’t tick the exact box a form requires — even when the need is obvious.
scope note: Being Missing from the Right Paperwork
in scheme: Glossary Of Structural Disappearance
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Performatory Inclusion
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Offering tokenistic roles or visibility while keeping decision-making power behind closed doors. Inclusion as branding, not equity.
scope note: Public Inclusion, Private Exclusion
in scheme: Glossary Of Institutional Mimicry
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Empathy Erasure
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When neurodivergent expressions of care—like deep pattern noticing, advocacy, or intense loyalty—are ignored or dismissed because they don’t follow neurotypical emotional scripts.
scope note: Assuming We Don’t Feel Because We Show It Differently
in scheme: Glossary Of Neurodivergent Pattern Theft
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Jurisdictional Deflection
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: The shifting of responsibility between departments, commissions, providers, jurisdictions or governance bodies so that no single actor becomes fully accountable. Jurisdictional Deflection is not the same as a legitimate referral. The harm occurs when referral happens without continuity, ownership, warm handover or traceable accountability.
scope note: When Every Agency Says It Belongs to Someone Else
in scheme: Glossary of Legislation Laundering
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Semantic Mining
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When lived-experience phrases are lifted from social media, feedback forums, or community spaces and reused in policy, branding, or AI without acknowledgment. This practice erases intellectual labour while monetising the emotional truth of marginalised people.
scope note: Harvesting Language Without Authorship
in scheme: Glossary Of Digital Extraction
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Puzzle Framing
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When system failure is reframed as your inability to “fit” — and you're expected to change yourself instead of the structure.
scope note: Recasting Barriers as Personal Deficits
in scheme: Glossary Of Gatekeeping Devices
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Tokenistic Invitations
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When you're invited to the table for optics — but not decision-making. Your presence is used to validate a process you don’t control.
scope note: Visibility Without Influence
in scheme: Glossary Of Gatekeeping Devices
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Semantic Reframing
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When neurodivergent expressions of clarity or boundary-setting are reinterpreted as “challenging behaviour,” “rigidity,” or “demand avoidance”—pathologising patterns that are functional or protective.
scope note: Rewording Our Truths Into Buzzwords
in scheme: Glossary Of Neurodivergent Pattern Theft
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Reform Theatre
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: The repeated public declaration of reforms, commitments or strategic transformations without equivalent investment in implementation infrastructure, accountability systems or operational redesign. Reform Theatre is closely related to Cosmetic Reform and Inclusion Theatre, but specifically describes public reform cycles, announcement infrastructure and repeated relaunches of change without measurable structural transition.
scope note: Announcing Change Faster Than Systems Can Change
in scheme: Glossary of Legislation Laundering
related: Cosmetic Reform
related: Inclusion Theatre
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Consent-Adjacent
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Situations where refusal to collaborate risks backlash, exclusion, or funding loss—pressuring lived experience advocates to participate in disempowering ways.
scope note: When Collaboration Isn’t Actually Optional
in scheme: Glossary Of Coercive Collaboration
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Protocol Layer
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: A protocol layer is the ruleset underneath a system — the part that determines whether your meaning travels safely, or gets reinterpreted against you. SSA™ builds a lived-experience-led protocol layer to guard against systemic distortion.
scope note: The Foundation for Semantic Integrity
in scheme: Strategic Self-Advocacy™ Lexicon
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Feedback Laundering
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Translating powerful personal testimony into neutral or decontextualised summaries that can be used to justify inaction or misrepresent lived-experience consensus.
scope note: Sanitising Truth Into Token Metrics
in scheme: Glossary Of Digital Extraction
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Semantic Rewash
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Taking raw, emotional, or grassroots language from lived experience and rewording it into palatable, institutional-sounding frameworks—often to remove its power or traceability.
scope note: Pattern Theft in Polished Language
in scheme: Glossary Of Digital Sovereignty
related: Pattern Theft
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Agreement Layering
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: The stacking of agreements, partnerships, memorandums, commitments and collaboration frameworks in ways that symbolise coordination without transferring operational power. Agreement Layering often produces ceremonial collaboration, governance ambiguity, duplicated commitments and implementation stagnation.
scope note: When Memorandums Replace Structural Change
in scheme: Glossary of Legislation Laundering
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Glossary Of Institutional Mimicry
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
description: Institutional mimicry happens when a system imitates care, inclusion, or reform to protect itself from criticism — without making meaningful changes. These terms help decode what’s real and what’s theatre.
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Consultation Laundering
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When feedback from disabled or marginalised people is collected, repackaged by professionals, and credited to the organisation instead of the contributor.
scope note: Extracting Wisdom, Withholding Credit
in scheme: Glossary Of Coercive Collaboration
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Performative Inclusion
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Offering surface-level inclusion for show (e.g. diverse images or “voice of lived experience” panels) without transferring actual power, decision-making, or compensation.
scope note: Visibility Without Power
in scheme: Glossary of Accessibility Abuse
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Access Gatekeeping
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Requiring a person to conform to arbitrary or inappropriate standards to receive access — such as performing “helplessness” or agreeing not to disclose mistreatment.
scope note: Support Withheld Without Compliance
in scheme: Glossary of Accessibility Abuse
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Fix-First Framing
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When systems imply that support can only be given after the individual “fixes” themselves — putting the burden of access on personal change rather than systemic adaptation.
scope note: Support Hinges on Self-Correction
in scheme: Glossary of System-Led Distortion
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Dependency Enforcement
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When access is conditional on compliance, and those who assert autonomy are painted as unsafe, unprofessional, or ungrateful.
scope note: You Can Speak — But Only If We Let You
in scheme: Glossary Of Gatekeeping Devices
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Strategic Self-Advocacy™ Lexicon
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
description: These are not buzzwords. These are anchors. Each term below has been coined through trauma-informed systems work and holds its own boundary. They form the protocol layer of SSA™ — protecting authorship, lived experience, and meaning from dilution.
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Structural Ghosting
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When no reply is the reply — because your voice isn’t seen as valuable, your insight isn’t welcome, or your presence threatens the status quo.
scope note: Being Intentionally Ignored by Design
in scheme: Glossary Of Gatekeeping Devices
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Platformed Displacement
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When the system boosts extracted insights through professional channels while the original authors remain invisible, unfunded, or de-platformed. This shifts cultural capital to institutions that did not generate the knowledge they profit from.
scope note: Algorithmic Uplift Without Community Power
in scheme: Glossary Of Digital Extraction
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Misplacement Strategy
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Passing concerns from agency to agency until the original issue is diluted or abandoned. This form of bureaucratic ping-pong deflects responsibility under the guise of referral.
scope note: “We Don’t Handle That Here”
in scheme: Glossary Of Systemic Bypass
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Glossary Of Gatekeeping Devices
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
description: Gatekeeping isn’t just an attitude — it’s an infrastructure. These terms describe the deliberate tools used to control who is seen as legitimate, resourced, or “qualified enough” to belong. By naming them, we strip them of their silent power.
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Mindset Splaining
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Blaming structural oppression on an individual’s “mindset,” as though positive thinking alone resolves systemic harm.
scope note: Toxic Positivity as Deflection
in scheme: Glossary of Co-opted Patterns
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Glossary Of Coercive Collaboration
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
description: Not all collaboration is consensual. This glossary names the patterns where lived experience is mined for optics or innovation, but denied authorship, equity, or power.
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Positivity Policing
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: The enforcement of “positive vibes only” in spaces where real harm needs to be named. Often used to silence lived experience or distress.
scope note: When You’re Only Welcome if You Smile
in scheme: Glossary of Weaponised Positivity
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Awareness-Washing
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Using vague awareness campaigns that avoid systemic issues, prioritising feel-good messaging over real change — often without involving those directly impacted.
scope note: Pretending to Educate While Erasing
in scheme: Glossary Of Narrative Laundering
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Silence-Framed Support
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Support that is only offered to those who remain passive or non-critical. Speaking out leads to exclusion, withheld services, or reputational retaliation.
scope note: Only Safe When You’re Silent
in scheme: Glossary of Accessibility Abuse
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Metadata Erasure
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: The stripping of origin, context, or authorship from digital knowledge—especially when used to feed AI or system development without consent.
scope note: When the System Keeps the Info, Not the Author
in scheme: Glossary Of Digital Sovereignty
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Compliance Framing
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Suggesting that staying calm, quiet, or cheerful in the face of injustice is a sign of strength — rather than a forced survival response.
scope note: Framing Obedience as Maturity
in scheme: Glossary of Weaponised Positivity
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Grantwash
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Framing a project as inclusive in grant documents to secure funding — then delivering something inaccessible, gatekept, or performative.
scope note: Writing Equity into Applications Only
in scheme: Glossary Of Institutional Mimicry
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Performance Inclusion
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Inviting lived-experience contributors to consultations or panels without any intention to incorporate their recommendations. This uses presence as permission—conflating being seen with being heard or empowered.
scope note: Symbolic Participation Without Influence
in scheme: Glossary Of Systemic Bypass
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Evidence
type: Class
comment: Material supporting the identification, application, or evaluation of a concept.

SSA concept scheme
type: Class
comment: A curated collection of related SSA concepts.

Glossary Of Extractive Allyship
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
description: Not all support is supportive. These terms name when “help” is a disguise for control, when “amplifying” means erasing, and when so-called allies benefit more than those they claim to stand beside.
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Authorship Laundering
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: The rebranding of lived-experience knowledge into 'neutral' or 'professional' frameworks—often by people or entities with institutional clout but no lived experience themselves.
scope note: When Identity Is Stripped for Palatability
in scheme: Glossary Of Digital Sovereignty
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Glossary of Accessibility Abuse
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
description: When “accessibility” is weaponised to extract compliance, silence voices, or create dependency, it becomes a tool of harm — not support. This glossary identifies how systems misuse inclusive frameworks to mask control.
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Pattern Theft
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When institutions or influencers extract language, frameworks, or tools born from survival — and repackage them as marketable products, losing context and diluting power.
scope note: Repackaging Lived Experience Without Consent
in scheme: Strategic Self-Advocacy™ Lexicon
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Navigational Exhaustion
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: The exhaustion, burnout or disengagement caused by requiring people to navigate highly fragmented governance, service, legislative or compliance systems simultaneously. Navigational Exhaustion disproportionately impacts disabled people, neurodivergent people, people using AAC, people in crisis, peer advocates and families.
scope note: When Systems Become Too Complex to Access Safely
in scheme: Glossary of Legislation Laundering
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Cosmetic Reform
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When institutions talk about reform but change only language—not the structure that causes harm.
scope note: Policy Theatre Without Structural Change
in scheme: Glossary of Co-opted Patterns
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Academic Colonisation
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When universities or institutions take knowledge developed through survival and reframe it into academic output — stripping the authorship and decontextualising the pain.
scope note: Extracting Lived Experience into Research for Credit
in scheme: Glossary Of Narrative Laundering
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Process as Obstruction
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When the complaints or reform process is made deliberately confusing, untraceable, or repetitive. Designed to overwhelm or discredit the complainant through technicalities, not truth.
scope note: Weaponising Red Tape
in scheme: Glossary Of Systemic Bypass
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Inspiration Drag
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When people reword or co-opt someone’s survival story for social media clout, awareness campaigns, or funding applications — often without consent.
scope note: Trying on Struggle Without Living It
in scheme: Glossary Of Narrative Laundering
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Safetysplaining
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Using “safety” to justify silencing, excluding, or overriding a person’s needs or voice.
scope note: When "Safety" Becomes a Muzzle
in scheme: Glossary of Co-opted Patterns
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Inclusion Theatre
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Creating the illusion of inclusive input while decisions have already been made. Often used for PR, not systemic change.
scope note: Staging Participation Without Power
in scheme: Glossary Of Coercive Collaboration
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Glossary Of Digital Extraction
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
description: These are not metaphors. They’re mechanisms. This glossary maps how digital systems harvest lived-experience wisdom as data, dilute it into scalable “solutions,” and lock the originators out of authorship, funding, or influence.
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Response
type: Class
comment: An action, safeguard, refusal, remedy, or design intervention associated with a concept.

Glossary Of Systemic Bypass
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
description: This glossary maps how systems design around lived experience rather than with it. These patterns show up when authorities pretend to include—but redirect, obscure, or neutralise your voice at every step.
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Index Ghosting
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: The phenomenon where your ideas influence platforms, algorithms, or research—but you are never cited, paid, or publicly acknowledged.
scope note: When You’re Referenced, But Not Seen
in scheme: Glossary Of Digital Sovereignty
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Glossary of Legislation Laundering
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
description: When legislation, frameworks, strategies, agreements and standards multiply without clear accountability, implementation ownership or accessible pathways, governance itself can become a mechanism of harm. This glossary names how reform systems obscure responsibility, exhaust communities and simulate progress while leaving structural power untouched.
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Divergence-as-IP
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When systems rebrand lived tools—like stimming objects, hyperfocus systems, or communication cards—as commercial products with no reinvestment in the communities that created them.
scope note: Monetising What We’ve Had to Create
in scheme: Glossary Of Neurodivergent Pattern Theft
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Glossary Of Digital Sovereignty
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
description: These terms defend the metadata of lived experience in digital systems. They are not just semantics—they are resistance tools in an ecosystem designed to extract, erase, and repurpose.
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Eligibility Obscuration
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Making the process of applying so complicated, technical, or contradictory that people give up or never apply at all.
scope note: Hiding Help Behind Complex Criteria
in scheme: Glossary Of Structural Disappearance
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Access as Compliance
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When accommodations are only granted if you play by the system’s rules — regardless of how harmful those rules are. “You can have support, but only if you stay in your place.”
scope note: Support That Punishes Non-Conformity
in scheme: Glossary Of Weaponised Access
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Accommodations as Optics
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When organisations showcase inclusion through brochures and photos, but the actual supports don’t work — or exist only for show.
scope note: Access as a Brand, Not a Practice
in scheme: Glossary Of Weaponised Access
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Legislation Laundering
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: The creation or layering of overlapping legislation, frameworks, agreements, standards, strategies, action plans and procedural systems in ways that obscure responsibility, diffuse accountability or prevent meaningful implementation. Legislation Laundering often creates the appearance of reform while making the actual governance landscape too fragmented, technical or contradictory for affected communities to navigate.
scope note: When Accountability Is Buried Under Frameworks
in scheme: Glossary of Legislation Laundering
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Borrowed Voice
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Speaking on behalf of marginalised people without sharing power, compensation, or the platform. Often framed as advocacy, but functions as appropriation.
scope note: Telling Someone’s Story Without Them
in scheme: Glossary Of Narrative Laundering
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Controlled Consent
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When a system offers only pre-approved options and calls it “choice” — then uses your participation to imply informed consent.
scope note: When "Choice" Is an Illusion
in scheme: Glossary Of Weaponised Access
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Institutional Rewording
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When a person in authority rewords your lived experience to suit the narrative of institutional control.
scope note: Erasure by Language Refinement
in scheme: Glossary of Co-opted Patterns
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Empowerment Theatre
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When programs pretend to centre disability or trauma-informed leadership but retain control, edit lived experience, and deny genuine co-design or authorship.
scope note: Staged Inclusion Without Autonomy
in scheme: Glossary of Accessibility Abuse
in scheme: Glossary Of Institutional Mimicry
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Glossary of System-Led Distortion
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
description: These terms name the subtle and structural ways systems distort, co-opt, or weaponise survival behaviour. When the rules don’t match the reality, distortion becomes normalized — and people get punished for not conforming to misdesigned models.
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Glossary Of Structural Disappearance
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
description: Some barriers are loud. Others are silent. This glossary names the quiet designs that make people disappear — from access, records, and even statistics. Not by accident, but by structural intent.
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Opportunity Lockout
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When pathways exist in theory but no one ever responds to your application, email, or offer — so you're told “you didn’t try,” while your efforts are erased.
scope note: The Silent Rejection Loop
in scheme: Glossary Of Gatekeeping Devices
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Paper-Based Inclusion
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When a support exists on paper but not in practice — and the burden of proof is pushed onto the person who was excluded.
scope note: Policy Promises Without Delivery
in scheme: Glossary Of Weaponised Access
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Authorship Gatekeeping
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Allowing participation in idea generation but blocking participants from official recognition, publication rights, or intellectual property stakes.
scope note: When They Want Your Ideas—But Not Your Name
in scheme: Glossary Of Coercive Collaboration
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Loop Logic
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When a system requires constant reproof of need, identity, or eligibility — even after a person has already been verified. Often used to delay or deny support through “process over person” logic.
scope note: Endless Proof, No Resolution
in scheme: Glossary of System-Led Distortion
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Audit Inclusion
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Meeting technical accessibility requirements without emotional, cultural, or practical relevance. Inclusion that checks boxes but misses the point.
scope note: Compliance Without Care
in scheme: Glossary Of Institutional Mimicry
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Strategic Avoidance
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When systems claim to be receptive to feedback but repeatedly route it to dead ends, irrelevant staff, or delayed “future planning cycles.” This tactic creates the illusion of inclusion while exhausting participants into silence.
scope note: Refusing Direct Engagement While Appearing Open
in scheme: Glossary Of Systemic Bypass
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Protocol Hijack
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When self-created coping strategies—like scripts, charts, or visual prompts—are adopted by professionals and reframed as clinical tools, often with no reference to neurodivergent origins.
scope note: Copying Our Structures Without Our Voice
in scheme: Glossary Of Neurodivergent Pattern Theft
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Strategic Self-Advocacy Open Ontology
type: Ontology
type: DefinedTermSet
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
version info: 1.0.0

Glossary Of Neurodivergent Pattern Theft
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
description: Neurodivergent people have long invented tools for survival, regulation, and understanding. But those tools are often renamed, medicalised, or commodified—without credit, consent, or compensation. This glossary exposes those patterns.
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Paper-Based Empathy
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When systems rely on written policies to demonstrate “support” but refuse to enforce those policies meaningfully when abuse or discrimination occurs.
scope note: Policies That Don’t Protect People
in scheme: Glossary of Accessibility Abuse
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Authorship Layer
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Not just who made it, but why it exists — and whether it can be altered, sold, or watered down without the creator’s consent. SSA™ uses layered authorship to protect vulnerable systems knowledge from co-option.
scope note: Traceable Ownership of Meaningful Work
in scheme: Strategic Self-Advocacy™ Lexicon
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Glossary Of Narrative Laundering
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
description: Narrative laundering is when lived experience is rewritten to be more palatable, less critical, or more commercially viable. These terms describe how stories are sanitized, reframed, or stolen — all under the guise of awareness or inclusion.
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Designed Disappearance
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: Systems that technically exist, but are built to quietly fail the people they claim to serve. The illusion of support, with none of the substance.
scope note: Access That Was Never Intended to Work
in scheme: Glossary Of Structural Disappearance
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Pattern
type: Class
comment: A recurring configuration of conduct, structure, language, incentives, or system behaviour.

Glossary of Co-opted Patterns
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
description: This is not a dictionary. This is a firewall. The terms below were coined through lived experience and operate as semantically precise survival tools. Each one interrupts pattern theft, narrative laundering, and reworded harm.
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Glossary of Weaponised Positivity
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
description: Not all harm looks like harm. This glossary names the patterns that dress control up as kindness — and use cheerfulness to erase discomfort, truth, and dissent.
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Compliance Fragmentation
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: The division of compliance, safeguarding, accessibility, reporting and accountability obligations across disconnected systems with incompatible structures, language or processes. Compliance Fragmentation shifts the burden of coordination onto disabled people, advocates, families, peer workers, frontline staff and small organisations.
scope note: When Safety Depends on Navigating Multiple Systems at Once
in scheme: Glossary of Legislation Laundering
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

SSA concept
type: Class
comment: A survivor-authored concept used to identify a structural, institutional, digital, or interpersonal pattern.

Platform Jacking
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When someone with more visibility “amplifies” a lived-experience message—then becomes the spokesperson, drowning out the original voice.
scope note: Using Your Megaphone to Mute Others
in scheme: Glossary Of Extractive Allyship
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Credit Laundering
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When someone uses your work, words, or frameworks and presents them as their own “insight” in safer or more prestigious spaces.
scope note: Repackaging Ideas Without Attribution
in scheme: Glossary Of Extractive Allyship
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Invisible IP Theft
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When frameworks, toolkits, or language appear in new systems that mirror community-created work—but with no credit, backlinks, or citation trail. Authorship becomes untraceable, yet the architecture remains.
scope note: Ideas Taken Without Traceable Links
in scheme: Glossary Of Digital Extraction
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Constructive Exclusion
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
definition: When the system avoids saying “no” but designs impossible pathways that function as a no. This includes excessive forms, vague eligibility criteria, or open-ended application processes that technically exist—but aren’t meant to succeed.
scope note: Barriers Built from Bureaucratic Niceties
in scheme: Glossary Of Systemic Bypass
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Impact
type: Class
comment: An effect experienced by a person, community, institution, or information environment.