Matthew Shifrin has been working tirelessly for several years to spread audio and Braille Lego building instructions to children around the world. Credit: The Lego Foundation

Lego’s creative playing blocks are becoming more accessible to visually impaired with the launch of Lego Audio & Braille Building Instructions earlier this year and the upcoming 2020 launch of Lego Braille Bricks.

The Lego Audio & Braille Building Instructions available online give blind and visually impaired children of all ages an opportunity to build Lego sets independently and enjoy the developmental benefits of creative Lego play experiences.

The idea originated from blind US entrepreneur Matthew Shifrin, who developed a strong passion for Lego as a child but always needed assistance when it came building sets with specific building instructions.

“I had a friend, Lilya, who would write down all the building steps for me so that I could upload them into a system that allowed me to read the building steps on a Braille reader through my fingers,” he said. Shifrin would pore over his customised instructions to create models such as the Sydney Opera House and London Tower Bridge, the latter of which required over 850 pages. For the first time, he was able to build Lego sets independently.

“For blind children, we don’t have access to what sighted kids are used to. Lego bricks enable us to learn about our environment, to see the world. It is so important because blind kids get left out of a lot of social stuff, especially in elementary school. But Lego building is one of the things we can do.”

When Lilya passed away in 2017, Shifrin decided to honour her memory by ensuring others benefitted from her idea of creating building instructions for visually impaired. Lego’s Creative Play Lab committed to the idea and teamed up with the Austrian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence. They developed a software to translate LXFML data (Lego Exchange Format Mel Script) from the visual digital building instructions to text-based descriptions for braille and voice commanded instructions.

The first four Lego Audio & Braille instructions are available online at https://legoaudioinstructions.com/ with more underway.

Lego Braille Bricks

Lego Braille Bricks will be launched in 2020, allowing visually impaired children to play and learn Braille in an engaging way.

The Braille bricks will be moulded with the same number of studs used for individual letters and numbers in the Braille alphabet, while remaining fully compatible with the Lego System. To ensure they are inclusive for sighted teachers, students and family members, each brick will also feature a printed letter or character.

The kit will contain approximately 250 Lego Braille bricks covering the alphabet, numbers 0-9, select math symbols and will also include guides for teaching and inspiration for interactive games.