A brief experience of blindness

A Tokyo NPO is giving the sighted a chance to experience what it’s like to be blind

diversity

Apr 27, 2022

by sayuri daimon

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J-STORIES - The space is not just dark but 100 percent dark. Guides lead participants through a series of activities, forcing them to rely on each other and their other senses. It is strange and not easy. Yet, the guides themselves are in their element because they, unlike the participants, are blind every day.

The “Dialogue in the Dark” program was devised in Germany in the late 1980s by philosopher Andreas Heinecke to change mindsets on disability and diversity. Since then, over 8 million sighted people in more than 50 nations have taken part to briefly experience what it is like to be blind.

The first activities in Japan were launched by the Japan Dialogue Society in 1999. The organization now has two facilities in Tokyo and has hosted over 230,000 people. It offers programs to both members of the public and companies -- and is even using its spaces to help with post-pandemic anxiety.

Dialogue in the Dark encourages people to interact free of preconceptions based on visual appearance.       Source: Japan Dialogue Society — Dialogue in the Dark encourages people to interact free of preconceptions based on visual appearance. Source: Japan Dialogue Society

Dialogue in the Dark participants must rely on their blind guides as they use white canes, feel with their hands and feet, and carefully listen to the voices around them. They learn and experience many new things while boarding a train, crossing grassy ground or other simulated activities.

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Dialogue Japan Society director, Shinsuke Shimura, says that he wondered at first whether sighted people would really tolerate being in pitch-blackness. But he soon realized Dialogue in the Dark was an excellent chance for the sighted to understand what it is like to have a disability and interact with disabled people.