Dialogue in the Dark: bridging the blind and the sighted

China Development Brief

1st August 2022

Dialogue in the Dark: bridging the blind and the sighted

After making an appointment, Wang Lei and his friends followed the instructions and slowly walked into a dark room. As the last ray of light disappeared, everything in front of him was shrouded in darkness, and he heard: “Welcome to my voice”.

The voice came from Lingling, the tour guide for their Dialogue in the Dark experience. “Don’t worry,” she assured the group, “there’s no scary part in the venue, so let’s try to relax.”

Dialogue in the Dark (DID) is the main program of Dialogue Social Enterprise, a social enterprise based in Germany. Since its introduction to China in 2010, DID has established its headquarters in Shanghai and opened branches in Chengdu and Shenzhen.

At a DID exhibition, visitors are guided by visually impaired guides in absolute darkness to experience the daily environment of someone with impaired vision. Daily routines become exciting and roles are reversed: the sighted become “blind” and the blind become “sighted”.

https://chinadevelopmentbrief.org/reports/dialogue-in-the-dark-bridging-the-blind-and-the-sighted/