2026-03-24 –, Roundtable Room
"Accessibility" has different meanings to different people. To some, it is a topic that punctuates their day-to-day, while to others it is a broad, nearly unapproachable term.
Zalika Corbett (Technical Director + Lead Programmer, Winikur Productions) and Matthew Shifrin (Founder and CEO, Bricks for the Blind) discuss some of these nuances in both the digital and physical space, what we as developers can do to address accessibility needs, and how seemingly small considerations can make a big impact for the broader community.
Zalika Corbett is a computer programmer, manager, video editor, Blender enthusiast, and accessibility specialist. She is also a life-long gamer.
Professionally, she has managed and coded interactive museum exhibits as well as edited broadcast documentaries and short films. Zalika is currently Technical Director + Lead Programmer at Winikur Productions where she incorporates lessons from her game development background into the world of museums.
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.