Acquired Brain Injury (ABI): damage to the brain, which occurs after birth, as a result of a traumatic or non-traumatic event and is not related to a congenital or a degenerative disease and can result in temporary, prolonged or permanent impairments in cognitive, emotional, behavioural or physical functioning.

Anxiety Disorders: a group of disorders that affect behaviour, thoughts, emotions and physical health.

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): is a common neurobiological disorder that affects between 5-12% of the population.

Autism: a complex developmental disability that is a result of a neurological disorder that affects the functioning of the brain. It typically affects a person’s ability to communicate, form relationships, and respond appropriately to the environment.

Bipolar Disorder: a mood disorder that affects how people think, behave and function. It’s sometimes called "manic depression."

Deaf (upper case ‘D’): a term that refers to members of a socio-linguistic and cultural group, whose first language is sign language. In Canada, there are two main sign languages: American Sign Language (ASL) and Langue des signes québécoise (LSQ).

Deafblind: a combination of both hearing and vision loss.

Deafened, Late-deafened and Oral deaf (lower case ‘d’): terms that refer to individuals who have lost all hearing at some point in their lives, use spoken language and rely on visual forms of communication such as speechreading, text, and occasionally sign language. Deaf, deafened and hard of hearing individuals may use hearing aids, cochlear implants or other assistive listening devices.

Depression: a mood disorder that may also be called clinical depression, or major depression that affects about 10 to 25 per cent of women and 10 to 15 percent of men.

Developmental Disabilities: people with intellectual or developmental disabilities may experience limitations with cognitive abilities, motor abilities, and/or social abilities.

Hard of Hearing: a term that refers to individuals who have a hearing loss ranging from mild to severe (although it is sometimes profound) and use their voice and residual hearing and occasionally sign language for communication.

Hyperactivity - difficulty regulating one's activity level: for example, constant movement in chair, getting up and down from chair, fidgeting; also may manifest as talking so much that others cannot get a turn in.

Impulsivity - difficulty inhibiting behaviour: for example, acting quickly without thinking.

Inattention - difficulty attending to the task at hand: for example, frequent daydreaming, being "lost in another world" or easily sidetracked and distracted. Students displaying this symptom tend to be less quickly identified, as inattention is less disruptive.

Intellectual Disabilities: people with intellectual or developmental disabilities may experience limitations with cognitive abilities, motor abilities, and/or social abilities.

Learning Disabilities (LDs): brain-based problems that affect one or more ways that a person takes in, stores or uses information. LDs can interfere with learning basic skills such as reading, writing, and math. They can also interfere with higher level skills such as organization, time management and social skills.

Mental Health - It’s natural to feel off-balance sometimes: e.g., sad, worried, scared or suspicious. But these kinds of feelings may become a problem if they get in the way of our daily lives over a long period. When there are changes in a person’s thinking, mood and behaviour that cause a lot of distress and make it difficult to do daily tasks, that person may have a mental illness.

Mental Wellness: Mental health involves finding a balance in all aspects of life including: physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It is the ability to enjoy life and deal with everyday challenges whether that involves making choices and decisions, adapting to and coping in difficult situations, or talking about one’s needs and desires.

Mobility Devices: an assistive device that assists a person with a physical or mobility disability such as a wheelchair, scooter, walker, cane, crutches).

Non-Traumatic Brain Injury: damage to the brain as a result of: metabolic disruption (such as hypoglycemia); hypoxia and anoxia (such as oxygen loss due to near-drowning, strangulation, cardiac arrest or stroke); space occupying lesion (such as a tumour, cyst, abscess or haematoma); toxins (such as lead, mercury, solvents, carbon monoxide); illness (such as meningitis, encephalitis).

Psychosis: an impaired sense of reality that can cause disturbances in the senses. People with psychotic symptoms may hear voices or see things that other people cannot.

Service Animals: To be considered a service animal under the customer service standard, it must either be “readily apparent” that the animal is being used because of a person’s disability or the person with a disability must be prepared to show a letter from a doctor or nurse confirming that it is required for reasons relating to his or her disability.

It's “readily apparent” that an animal is a service animal when it is obvious by its appearance or by what it is doing. For example, it may be readily apparent that an animal is a service animal if it is wearing a harness, saddle bags, a sign that identifies it as a service animal or has a certificate or identification card from a service animal training school or an identification card from the Attorney General of Ontario.

Support Person: A person that helps a person with a disability with a variety of things from communicating to helping with mobility, personal care or medical needs. A support person can be a personal support worker, an interpreter, an intervenor, a communication assistant, a volunteer, a family member or a friend of the person with a disability. S/he does not necessarily need to have special training or qualifications.

Traumatic Brain Injury: Damage to the brain, which occurs after birth, as a result of an external force (such as a fall, a motor vehicle crash or assault).

Vision Loss: restriction of a person’s ability to read signs, locate landmarks, or see hazards. People with vision loss may use a guide dog or white cane; others may not. Some people simply need to view written materials—like documents, forms, brochures, instructions or labels—in large print, braille, or with the help of a magnifier.