Lego preaches inclusion, but it’s the community who make a difference
10/4/2026
Translation: Katherine Martin
Lego tends to market its products as «for everyone». For a long time, however, that claim failed to hold water during the actual model-building process. The story of blind Lego enthusiast, Matthew Shifrin, reveals how slow the company was to take accessibility seriously.
The Associated Press recently profiled Matthew Shifrin from Massachusetts, a blind man whose campaign Bricks for the Blind has initiated the development of accessible instructions for more than 540 Lego sets. However, this isn’t just a powerful story about taking matters into your own hands. Above all, it’s a sequence of events that reflects poorly on Lego.
Lego tends to portray its toys as «for everyone». According to its website, «everyone can enjoy building Lego sets, no matter your age or ability.» Which is precisely why it’s so striking that the experience of buildingLego models was traditionally tailored towards sighted people.
The fact that a blind Lego enthusiast was the first person to demonstrate what accessible design for all – and I mean all – really looks like, reveals a lack of self-awareness on the company’s part.
Source: Lego
A toy for everyone – but please, only if you’re sighted
For decades, the process of building a Lego model has been rooted in colours, perspectives, subtle differences and visual instructions unaccompanied by words. A lot of people grasp this without thinking. For blind and low-vision people, however, it mostly just creates obstacles. This is precisely where the gap between Lego’s claims and the reality of its instructions becomes apparent.
Shifrin describes the problem in a very tangible way. As a child, he adored Lego, but could only play with it if he had help. It wasn’t until a friend wrote him instructions in Braille that he was able to build models on his own. This later evolved into Bricks for the Blind. The principle behind the campaign’s simple: visual step-by-step instructions are converted into text that can be read using Braille displays or screen readers. It’s exactly the kind of idea that Lego could’ve come up with much earlier.
Source: Bricks for the Blind
Critical impetus came from outside the company
Lego didn’t take action on this until Shifrin had identified the problem and demonstrated a solution. Following that, the company launched a project in 2019 featuring a small number of audio and Braille instruction sets. At the time, Lego said it’d only be able to implement the scheme more widely with new AI technology.
Since then, the company’s launched an official platform for audio and Braille instructions. Now, seven years after the project began, there are 131 sets of instructions available there. Given Lego’s earlier ambition to make accessible instructions available for all future product launches in the long term, this number still seems surprisingly limited.
Alongside these instructions, there are also Lego Braille Bricks. Since 2020, the Lego Foundation has been distributing educational kits to organisations that teach children with visual impairments. That’s a good thing – and we shouldn’t downplay it. However, making progress isn’t a get-out-of-jail-free card.
Accessibility isn’t an extra
Major brands still treat accessibility as an afterthought. Something they only address when they come under enough pressure. They don’t view it as a fundamental principle that’s attached to products from the very beginning.
A statistic published by the radio station WBUR also illustrates just how limited the official solution still is. Reportedly, Lego releases about 20 accessible designs each year. Sure, that’s better than nothing. But for a company that was talking about automating accessibility as early as 2019, it’s still surprisingly few. With a community initiative making hundreds of sets accessible in one go, Lego’s pace looks less like leadership and more like a belated catch-up attempt.
Source: Lego
What’s more, accessible instructions aren’t always the solution. As Shifrin explains, blind people still often need help from sighted people when sorting their Lego bricks. Sometimes, AI-powered apps that identify different block types can help with that. And that’s part of an honest assessment too. Accessibility isn’t achieved on account of some special scheme arising in one place. A company can only be considered truly committed to the cause if it systematically removes obstacles throughout the entire user experience – not if it just solves a single part of the problem.
Progress that’s come too late
Shifrin’s story isn’t just a single inspirational case. It illustrates a pattern present in numerous industries. People who’re excluded from using a particular product are the ones to highlight its shortcomings, develop solutions and, in doing so, put companies under pressure. It’s only then that we hear an official narrative of progress.
The good news is, things are starting to change. On the flipside, it took a fan leading the way for Lego to act. A brand that positions itself as being «for everyone» shouldn’t be waiting for people to develop solutions before seriously committing to accessibility. Which is why this is less of a feel-good story and more of a dent in Lego’s self-image.
Header image: Lego
I get paid to play with toys all day.
Opinion
This is a subjective opinion of the editorial team. It doesn't necessarily reflect the position of the company.
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