Chris Hofstader has been a fixture in the blind community for decades. While the bulk of his career was spent as an executive Vice President at Freedom Scientific, now known as Vispero, he is probably most well-known for his writing. His web site, “Blind Confidential,” offered candid, and anonymous, commentary on assistive technology products, service agencies and organizations, and legislation relevant to the blind community. His unique, journalistic writing style, often biting, sometimes intellectual, and almost always controversial, won him a devoted readership.
Chris briefly attended Harvard University as an English major, and graduated from NYU with a degree in computer science. He is well traveled, well read, and has an abiding love of music, art, and baseball. He also has a new project underway, a venture that will enable Chris to share his skills and interest, while providing a platform for others to do the same.
On January 4th, 2023, a new digital publication, the World Blind Herald, will make its debut. As editor-in-chief, Chris plans to curate, create, and collaborate with other writers to publish a weekly digest of content relevant to a global blind community. Topics include sports and science, travel and technology, fashion and lifestyle, employment news, accessibility issues, and medical breakthroughs, just to name a few. Many of the articles will be published in a digest format, with links back to the original content. A global network of contributors will provide featured articles, and share their own experiences as a blind person living in a sighted society. The mission of World Blind Herald is to inform and entertain readers by publishing articles on a wide array of topics regarding blindness and blind people from the entire English speaking world.
“Our fundamental values are that the community of blind people is not homogeneous and that different blind people have different values, dreams and aspirations,” says Hofstader. “We intend to show this spectrum in all of its brilliant colors.”
You can visit the web site, WorldBlindHerald.com here, and subscribe to receive pre-launch versions of the digest, as the countdown to launch begins. Follow World Blind Herald @BlindHerald on Twitter, and look for a Facebook page, coming soon.
My role will be that of marketing and promotion, so I’ll be the one behind many of the social media posts and front-facing communications. I’ll also occasionally contribute articles in the fashion and lifestyle category, and edit those that are submitted by guest authors.
If you’d like to contribute articles for publication in World Blind Herald, contact Chris at chris.hofstader@gmail.com or find the contact form on the World Blind Herald website.
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