Matthew Shifrin is a leading voice in revolutionizing the world of entertainment for blind children and adults. As founder and CEO of Bricks for the Blind, a nonprofit creating text-based instructions that enable blind people to build LEGO sets independently, he's committed to making the world of LEGO accessible to disabled children.

Matthew’s innovation and advocacy began at age 13 when a family friends gift of text-based LEGO instructions sparked his desire to share the joy of building LEGO sets with other blind kids. So he founded Bricks for the Blind, and established a partnership with LEGO resulting in their Accessible Building Instructions Initiative.  Matthew’s nonprofit has created accessible instructions for over 460 LEGO sets, and instructions have been downloaded more than 20,000 times by builders from over more than 120 countries. He teaches LEGO-building workshops for blind people across the country, and runs robotics programs for blind children.

An accomplished musician with degrees from the New England Conservatory, Matthew earned top honors showcasing his talents as an accordionist, composer, and countertenor.

He’s written multiple musicals, and his most recent one, My Grandma’s Mind Is Like An Ocean, a one-man musical in English and Yiddish won the award for Best Musical at NYC’s United Solo Theatre Festival on Theatre Row.
He wrote and hosted the award-winning podcast "Blind Guy Travels”, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and was the first podcast on a major podcasting network, (Radiotopia) to feature a blind host. He also convinced a braille-making company to create Yiddish Braille. Matthew hopes that his advocacy will inspire blind people to use their creativity to make the world a more accessible place.