Kristin Smedley is an award winning Keynote Speaker that empowers people and organizations to harness the ability in disability to gain a competitive advantage. 

Kristin is Co-Founder and CEO of the only patient organization in the world for people living with the blindness her two sons are affected by, CRB1 LCA/RP. The Curing Retinal Blindness Foundation has raised over 4 million dollars and achieved a National Rare Eye Disease Awareness Day.  That legislation, H.R. #625, was the first in US history to be submitted in Braille and it advocates for better resources for blind and visually impaired Americans.

Kristin partnered with Spark Therapeutics to help achieve the first ever FDA approved gene therapy to treat an inherited retinal disease in the United States. She has done a TEDx Talk in New York City to change perceptions of blindness and she partnered with Comcast media to spread awareness of the inclusive X1 product.

Kristin is author of the bestselling book Thriving Blind: Stories of Real People Succeeding Without Sight and a new children’s book, What I Can Be Is Up To Me. Kristin co-founded ThrivingBlindAcademy.org to solve the unemployment, illiteracy, and financial crisis in the blind community.  She is Executive Producer of the upcoming feature film, Curveball, that shows the extraordinary benefits of being inclusive of all abilities.