Introducing ATK, AT-SPI and GTK+
ATK is the toolkit that GNOME uses to enable accessibility for users needing extra support to make the most of their computers. ATK is used by tools such as screen readers, magnifiers, and input devices to permit a rich interaction with the desktop through alternative means. See the ATK SourceForge Project and the ATK Library for more information.
AT-SPI is the primary service interface by which assistive technologies query and receive notifications from running applications. The full API can be explored here.
GTK+ is a library for creating graphical user interfaces. It works on many UNIX-like platforms, Windows, and on framebuffer devices. GTK+ is released under the GNU Library General Public License (GNU LGPL), which allows for flexible licensing of client applications. GTK+ has a C-based object-oriented architecture that allows for maximum flexibility. Bindings for other languages have been written, including C++, Objective-C, Guile/Scheme, Perl, Python, TOM, Ada95, Free Pascal, and Eiffel. Its GtkAccessible class is the base class for accessible implementations for GtkWidget subclasses. It is a thin wrapper around AtkObject, which adds facilities for associating a widget with its accessible object.
For additional, in-depth information regarding GTK/GTK+, see the GTK+ Reference Manual, the GTK section of the ATK Guide, the outdated GNOME-hosted GTK+ 2.0 Tutorial and the official GTK+ FAQ.