Christine Ha speaks at ISU’s Asian and Disability Awareness Cultural Dinner

NORMAL, Ill. – Christine Ha, the self-proclaimed “Blind Chef” and winner of season 3 of MasterChef, spoke Monday evening in the Brown Ballroom as a part of Illinois State University’s Asian and Disability Awareness Cultural Dinner.

Ha has risen to prominence over the last decade after her unlikely victory in the television cooking competition MasterChef, becoming the first and only blind contestant to do so.

However, it wasn’t always that way for Ha. In her youth, she was diagnosed with Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder, an auto immune disease which attacks the optic nerve and spinal cord. Ha began to lose eyesight in her twenties and eventually lost her sight permanently.

When asked about what exactly she can see Ha described it as, “In the perfect lighting, I could see how many fingers someone is holding up if they held their hand about a foot away from my face,” she said. “But no, I can’t see what color the chairs we are sitting in are.”

Ha is the child of Vietnamese refugees, and grew up in Houston, Texas where she still resides to this day and has 2 successful restaurants.

She jokingly described how she used to want to be more like her friends in school and saying it took time for her to truly accept her culture.

“I would always try to trade my stinky pork belly or egg rolls for my friend’s bologna and cheese sandwich on white bread.”

Ha is most known for her modern take on traditional Vietnamese cuisine, as well as her dishes on MasterChef and her cookbook which includes both Vietnamese and American comfort food.

When asked about any advice she had for college students she spoke about stress and how to enjoy oneself.

“Don’t take life so serious, remember to take life slow and remember everything will be okay,” she said. “All things end, so it’s important to take time and enjoy life and not stress so much. Stress affects our mental health, which in turn affects our physical health as well, so remember to smile and laugh.”