Episode 46: "Legos for the Blind" with Matthew Shifrin

Welcome to November How Do You Like it So Far? fans! We kick off the second to last month of the year with Matthew Shifrin, an activist and advocate on issues impacting the visually impaired. His work has been integral in The Lego Group’s inclusion of braille and audio instructions with their modular sets. He received his first set of braille instructions to build a Lego model at 13 years old from a family friend. Over time, they created instructions for over 20 different Lego modules. Matthew has been a proponent of experiences that include the visually impaired. His passions have extended to podcasting and 3D sound experiences for the blind where they can enjoy activities similarly to sighted people. Matthew promotes adaptive tools for the blind, but he also wants to get the word out that these types of tools are right around the corner in the future. He wants to ignite conversation with the hope that others will start their own projects to foster a new wave of innovative tools for the visually impaired. Listen in as Matthew discusses his partnership with Lego, the other projects he has in the pipeline and his overall enthusiasm that his work will have an impact on other visually impaired people like himself. Also, you will get to hear the hilarious story of how he met Henry for the first time!

Here are some of the references from this episode, for those who want to dig a little deeper:

Matthew’s Ted x Talk

Blind Guys Travels podcast

3D Sound Experiences

Blind people and traveling

Lego building sets for the visually impaired

Matthew’s website with text instructions for building Lego sets

Legos started on 4 sets but expanding to 50

Number of visually impaired people in the US and worldwide

NPR’s piece on Matthew

Erik Weihenmayer – Blind Mountain Climber

Audio descriptions for folks started in the 1980s

WGDH explains Arthur the Aardvark for the blind