# What Do We Mean by "Accessibility Research"? A Literature Survey of Accessibility Papers in CHI and ASSETS from 1994 to 2019

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2101.04271 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.04271/

## Key facts

- Cited by 14 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 12 Jan 2021.

## Built on by (most cited first, 14 of 14)

- [ChatGPT Perpetuates Gender Bias in Machine Translation and Ignores Non-Gendered Pronouns: Findings across Bengali and Five other Low-Resource Languages](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.10510/) (2023)
- [Systemic Biases in Sign Language AI Research: A Deaf-Led Call to Reevaluate Research Agendas](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.02563/) (2024)
- [Understanding the LLM-ification of CHI: Unpacking the Impact of LLMs at CHI through a Systematic Literature Review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.12557/) (2025)
- [Data Representativeness in Accessibility Datasets: A Meta-Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.08037/) (2022)
- [Cheap Code, Costly Judgment: A Case Study on Governable Agentic Software Engineering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.01087/) (2026)
- [Towards Optimizing OCR for Accessibility](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.10254/) (2022)
- [PoSh: Using Scene Graphs To Guide LLMs-as-a-Judge For Detailed Image Descriptions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.19060/) (2025)
- [Toward Scalable Audio Description Quality Control: A Workflow for Evaluating Human and VLM Raters](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.01390/) (2026)
- [Three Modalities, Two Design Probes, One Prototype, and No Vision: Experience-Based Co-Design of a Multi-modal 3D Data Visualization Tool](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.09426/) (2026)
- [Dynamik: Syntactically-Driven Dynamic Font Sizing for Emphasis of Key Information](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.09734/) (2025)
- [Exploring Implicit Perspectives on Autism in Large Language Models Through Multi-Agent Simulations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.15437/) (2026)
- [Unheard in the Digital Age: Rethinking AI Bias and Speech Diversity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.18641/) (2026)
- [What Do We Mean by 'Pilot Study': Early Findings from a Meta-Review of Pilot Study Reporting at CHI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.13488/) (2026)
- [What We Know about Responsible AI Practices in Industry: A Half Decade of Empirical Research](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.10431/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Accessibility research has grown substantially in the past few decades, yet there has been no literature review of the field. To understand current and historical trends, we created and analyzed a dataset of accessibility papers appearing at CHI and ASSETS since ASSETS' founding in 1994. We qualitatively coded areas of focus and methodological decisions for the past 10 years (2010-2019, N=506 papers), and analyzed paper counts and keywords over the full 26 years (N=836 papers). Our findings highlight areas that have received disproportionate attention and those that are underserved--for example, over 43% of papers in the past 10 years are on accessibility for blind and low vision people. We also capture common study characteristics, such as the roles of disabled and nondisabled participants as well as sample sizes (e.g., a median of 13 for participant groups with disabilities and older adults). We close by critically reflecting on gaps in the literature and offering guidance for future work in the field.