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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Access as Compliance
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.”
in scheme: Glossary Of Weaponised Access
scope note: Support That Punishes Non-Conformity

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

Accessibility Dilution
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary of Legislation Laundering
scope note: When Accessibility Exists Everywhere and Therefore Nowhere

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

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

Agreement Layering
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary of Legislation Laundering
scope note: When Memorandums Replace Structural Change

Algorithmic Appropriation
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary Of Digital Sovereignty
scope note: When the Feed Eats the Author

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

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

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

Authorship Laundering
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary Of Digital Sovereignty
scope note: When Identity Is Stripped for Palatability

Authorship Layer
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Strategic Self-Advocacy™ Lexicon
scope note: Traceable Ownership of Meaningful Work

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

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

Benevolent Downgrade
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary of System-Led Distortion
scope note: Support That Lowers Capacity

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

Clinical Watermarking
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary Of Neurodivergent Pattern Theft
scope note: Needing a Therapist’s Signature to Be Believed

Compliance Entrapment
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary of System-Led Distortion
scope note: Punished for Following the Rules

Compliance Fragmentation
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary of Legislation Laundering
scope note: When Safety Depends on Navigating Multiple Systems at Once

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

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

Constructive Exclusion
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary Of Systemic Bypass
scope note: Barriers Built from Bureaucratic Niceties

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

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

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

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

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

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

Designed Disappearance
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary Of Structural Disappearance
scope note: Access That Was Never Intended to Work

Digital Dependency Trap
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary Of Weaponised Access
scope note: Platforms That Replace Human Support — Then Fail

Distributed Accountability Collapse
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary of Legislation Laundering
scope note: When Governance Structures Become Too Diffuse to Fail Clearly

Divergence-as-IP
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary Of Neurodivergent Pattern Theft
scope note: Monetising What We’ve Had to Create

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

Empathy Erasure
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary Of Neurodivergent Pattern Theft
scope note: Assuming We Don’t Feel Because We Show It Differently

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

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

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

Fix-First Framing
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary of System-Led Distortion
scope note: Support Hinges on Self-Correction

Formfield Distortion
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary of System-Led Distortion
scope note: When the Form Doesn’t Fit the Person

Framework Flooding
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary of Legislation Laundering
scope note: Drowning Communities in Strategy Documents

Gatekept Liberation
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary Of Weaponised Access
scope note: Only Some Get Out — And Only If They Behave

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Invisible IP Theft
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary Of Digital Extraction
scope note: Ideas Taken Without Traceable Links

Jurisdictional Deflection
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary of Legislation Laundering
scope note: When Every Agency Says It Belongs to Someone Else

Legislation Laundering
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary of Legislation Laundering
scope note: When Accountability Is Buried Under Frameworks

Legitimacy Deficit
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary Of Gatekeeping Devices
scope note: When You're Qualified — But Not Recognised

Loop Logic
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary of System-Led Distortion
scope note: Endless Proof, No Resolution

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

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

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

Misplacement Strategy
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary Of Systemic Bypass
scope note: “We Don’t Handle That Here”

Navigational Exhaustion
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary of Legislation Laundering
scope note: When Systems Become Too Complex to Access Safely

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

Opportunity Lockout
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary Of Gatekeeping Devices
scope note: The Silent Rejection Loop

Optics Over Ownership
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary Of Coercive Collaboration
scope note: Inviting Us In, Then Talking Over Us

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

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

Performance Inclusion
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary Of Systemic Bypass
scope note: Symbolic Participation Without Influence

Performative Inclusion
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary of Accessibility Abuse
scope note: Visibility Without Power

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

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

Platformed Displacement
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary Of Digital Extraction
scope note: Algorithmic Uplift Without Community Power

Policy Stack Saturation
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary of Legislation Laundering
scope note: When Systems Collapse Under Their Own Governance Layers

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

Process as Obstruction
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary Of Systemic Bypass
scope note: Weaponising Red Tape

Protocol Hijack
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary Of Neurodivergent Pattern Theft
scope note: Copying Our Structures Without Our Voice

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

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

Reform Theatre
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary of Legislation Laundering
related: Cosmetic Reform
related: Inclusion Theatre
scope note: Announcing Change Faster Than Systems Can Change

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

Sanitised Survival
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary Of Narrative Laundering
scope note: Rewriting Struggle as Inspiration

Semantic Governance Drift
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary of Legislation Laundering
scope note: When Every Framework Uses Different Language for the Same Problem

Semantic Mining
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary Of Digital Extraction
scope note: Harvesting Language Without Authorship

Semantic Reframing
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary Of Neurodivergent Pattern Theft
scope note: Rewording Our Truths Into Buzzwords

Semantic Rewash
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary Of Digital Sovereignty
related: Pattern Theft
scope note: Pattern Theft in Polished Language

Semantic Sovereignty
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Strategic Self-Advocacy™ Lexicon
scope note: Owning the Meaning You Make

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

Splaining
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary of Co-opted Patterns
scope note: Power Dressed as Care

SSA™
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Strategic Self-Advocacy™ Lexicon
related: Protocol Layer
scope note: Strategic Self-Advocacy

Strategic Avoidance
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary Of Systemic Bypass
scope note: Refusing Direct Engagement While Appearing Open

Structural Ghosting
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary Of Gatekeeping Devices
scope note: Being Intentionally Ignored by Design

Tokenistic Invitations
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Glossary Of Gatekeeping Devices
scope note: Visibility Without Influence

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

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

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

Protocol Layer
type: Concept
type: DefinedTerm
type: SSA concept
creator: sarah-ailish-mcloughlin
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.
in scheme: Strategic Self-Advocacy™ Lexicon
scope note: The Foundation for Semantic Integrity

Glossary of Accessibility Abuse
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.

Glossary Of Coercive Collaboration
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.

Glossary Of Digital Extraction
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.

Glossary Of Digital Sovereignty
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.

Glossary Of Extractive Allyship
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.

Glossary Of Institutional Mimicry
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.

Glossary Of Narrative Laundering
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.

Glossary Of Neurodivergent Pattern Theft
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.

Strategic Self-Advocacy™ Lexicon
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.

Glossary Of Structural Disappearance
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.

Glossary of System-Led Distortion
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.

Glossary Of Systemic Bypass
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.

Glossary of Weaponised Positivity
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.

Glossary of Co-opted Patterns
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.

Glossary Of Gatekeeping Devices
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.

Glossary Of Weaponised Access
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.

Glossary of Legislation Laundering
type: ConceptScheme
type: DefinedTermSet
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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.

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