“It all started with tap dancing. I was five. From that, anything was possible.”
As an only child, Chad Allen grew up in New England. Reading lots of comic books, playing games like Dungeons and Dragons with friends, and training as a tap dancer fueled his childhood imagination. He dreamt of becoming an artist someday.
Allen left New England for Colorado as an adult. He was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa at fifteen and was committed to seeing the world before he could no longer see. Allen was confused and in denial about his blindness. He soon got a job at a toy store in Denver. They sold magic tricks behind a counter in the back corner of the store. It was cozy and made him want to create. He fell deeply in love with the art of magic and soon became a magician himself.
Allen’s eyes kept getting worse. He was going blind. He needed help. He found the support he desperately needed through the Colorado Center for the Blind. He learned Braille and how to use technology without sight. He became empowered through his identity as a person who happens to be blind and learned to navigate the world all over again.
Shortly thereafter, Allen got involved in disability advocacy. His creativity combined with accessibility in the arts became his passion. His mission is to help make more art accessible through innovation and understanding of the disability experience in our modern world.
Allen moved to Los Angeles in 2001 and joined the world-famous Magic Castle in Hollywood. Being with so many artists revived his passion to make his own art. It began with performing magic professionally, followed by creative writing. His motivation grew into world-building through epic storytelling. He created a comic book for blind people that was featured at an exhibition in the Exploratorium Museum in San Francisco. Titled UNSEEN, the series is about the greatest assassin the world has never seen. He learned that art combined with accessibility makes magic happen. Blind people need heroes too!
“Our influence matters and accessibility is not only possible but essential for everyone to live a rich and inclusive life. My goal is to make art accessible for everyone to enjoy!”
