The is the premier international conference of human-computer interaction (HCI). The conference was founded in 1982 and has grown to be a major ACM conference, attracting roughly 4,000 people to this year鈥檚 conference.
This year鈥檚 conference was held in Yokohama, Japan from April 26 to May 1.聽There were 5,014 research submissions with 331 (6.6%) in the accessibility category. Out of the 1,249 accepted submissions, 100 of the original 331 in the accessibility category were accepted. Here is a summary of the accessibility and disability sessions:
- Research Paper Sessions
- 鈥淟iving with Dementia or Visual Impairments鈥 (5 papers)
- 鈥淣eurological Considerations鈥 (7 papers)
- 鈥淒esign for Different User Needs鈥 (7 papers)
- 鈥淴R for Different User Needs鈥 (6 papers)
- 鈥淰ision Accessibility鈥 (7 papers)
- 鈥淒esigns for Aging and Disability鈥澛 (6 papers)
- 鈥淒esigns for Blind and Low Vision People" (6 papers)
- Late-Breaking Research Sessions
- 鈥淯ser Experience and Accessibility鈥澛 (6+ papers)
- 鈥淗aptics and Sensory鈥 (3+ papers)
- 鈥淎ccessibility and Inclusion鈥 (20+ papers)
- Case Studies
- 鈥淎ccessibility鈥 (5 papers)
- Panels
- 鈥淏arriers to Implementation of Accessibility Research in Industry Practice 鈥 and Vice Versa鈥
- Special Interest Groups
- 鈥淒esigning for Neurodiversity in Academia: Addressing Challenges and Opportunities in Human-Computer Interaction鈥
Late-breaking research papers are not counted in the submission/acceptance data.聽 There are also quite a few accessibility/disability papers that are in sessions that are not identified with that topic.聽 Among the 50 Best Papers in the conference, I was able to identify 5 on accessibility/disability topics.聽 It is encouraging to me to see so much interest in accessibility at the CHI conference.聽
I recall attending an early CHI conference in 1987 when there were only three accessibility papers out of 46 total accepted papers.聽 Of course, 3/46 = 6.5% in 1987 is only slightly smaller聽 than 100/1249 = 8% in 2025, 38 years later.聽 You might be wondering what the three papers were about.聽 They were all about accessing computers, one for blind people, one for deaf-blind people, and one for people with limited mobility.聽
of ACM CHI are available freely in the ACM Digital Library.