Dialog In The Dark

Hello! The other day, I experienced firsthand how it feels to be blind. There is a remarkable exhibit downtown at South Street Seaport called Dialog In the Dark, in which visitors are led by visually impaired guides through a series of completely darkened galleries, each representing a common place in New York City.

Before entering the gallery, my family and I were taught how to properly use the canes blind people employ to walk around. We were then escorted into a small room, and the lights gradually dimmed until it was pitch black! And when I mean pitch black, I mean it! We were surrounded by complete darkness so that we could not see our hands in front of our faces. Suddenly, a visually impaired tour guide named Alexandria entered, and we began our journey as blind people.

With our sight impaired, the main purpose of this exhibit was to experience blindness by using our tactile, auditory, and olfactory senses. Throughout the exhibit, we walked through a public park, a grocery store, a subway train, a city street, and a café. With our canes, we managed to walk in complete darkness and actually “feel,” “smell,” and “hear” our surroundings.

This experience is definitely an unforgettable one because I gained greater respect for the visually impaired, who have to live in complete darkness all the time. The role reversal between the blind guide and me was interesting to contemplate during the exhibit. I was entering her domain, a world that I had known before, but was now experiencing in a completely different way.