SUBSCRIBE NOW

SIGHT

Be informed. Be challenged. Be inspired.

BLINDNESS: HOW DIALOGUE IN THE DARK IS GIVING NEW INSIGHTS INTO THE LIVES OF THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED

Dialogue in the Dark

DAVID ADAMS gains fresh insight in to the lives of the blind and visually impaired at Dialogue in the Dark, recently opened in Melbourne…

Think for a moment about your daily life – the many activities that take place as you move through your home and then out into the environment beyond at your workplace, school and on the city streets. And imagine doing it without sight.

Recently launched in Melbourne, Dialogue in the Dark aims to enable sighted people to do just that, allowing them to gain an experience of what life is like for the blind and visually impaired by being guided through a hidden environment in pitch darkness.

“One of the main reasons for this tour is to show people that we are just as capable – we just have different ways of doing things,” says Cassie Embling, one of the guides who takes people on the hour long tours through the venue.

The 24-year-old, who is a business student at Monash University, has been vision impaired since she was three-years-old after a tumour was discovered on her optic nerve. She uses a range of technologies to help her navigate life and for the past three years has also had a guide dog named Josette.

Ms Embling says she was attracted to the job – her first – for the opportunity it presents to meet people and “influence positive change in increasing education and awareness” about the lives of blind and vision impaired people.

“You’d be surprised how many people just grab you [to direct me] without saying anything…It’s a lack of education that they just don’t know the best way to help us,” she says.

“They’ve got good intentions but grabbing us out of the blue when we don’t know you’re there is a bit scary…We always say the best approach is just to ask the person – they may be perfectly capable to do things themselves or they may love to just take your elbow for a guide. Just ask.”

 Dialogue in the Dark

Dialogue in the Dark opened in Melbourne last June and is now in more than 130 cities in some 41 countries around the world. PICTURE: Supplied.

While it only opened in Melbourne in June last year, the concept – which can be found in more than 130 cities located in some 41 countries across the globe – dates back to 1989 when the first venue opened in Germany.

The idea came from Andreas Heinecke, a journalist and documentary maker at a German radio station who was asked to develop some training for a young journalist who had lost his eyesight in car accident to help him engage in work at the station.

Mr Heinecke’s encounter with the journalist changed the way he thought about blind and vision impaired people and led him to design a whole of body experience in which the vision impaired led the sighted through an immersive journey where they experienced something of the daily life of someone with limited sight or who was blind.

“One of the main reasons for this tour is to show people that we are just as capable – we just have different ways of doing things.”

– Cassie Embling, one of the guides at Dialogue in the Dark, Melbourne.

Since it was first launched, more than 10 million people have participated in the experience (as of Christmas, more than 7,000 people have already undertaken the tour in Melbourne alone). Each of the tours – there’s only seven at a time allowed on the Melbourne one – are developed specifically with reference to the city they are based in, meaning it’s a unique experience every time.

“It’s not uncommon for guests to say ‘Ah, I actually went through one of these tours in Hong Kong or Singapore,” says David Simmonds, lead workshop facilitator at Dialogue in the Dark in Melbourne. “So we’re having guests now that have been through other ‘Dialogues’ around the world.”

As well as offering guided tours, as Mr Simmonds’ title suggests, the venue also provides training workshops on issues including improving communication, teamwork and leadership skills for corporate, community or even church groups as well as special workshops for school students. Among those who have attended are members of the World Economic Forum.

“It’s seen as a really powerful learning environment…” says Mr Simmonds.

One of the key features of Dialogue in the Dark is that it’s run as a social enterprise, creating employment for people who are vision impaired or blind (a group grossly under-employed in Australia when compared to the sighted population).

Across the world, more than 10,000 blind or vision impaired people are employed at various Dialogue in the Dark venues. “It’s the largest single employer of blind people around the world,” notes Mr Simmonds.

 David Simmonds1 

David Simmonds, the lead workshop facilitator at Dialogue in the Dark, with his guide dog Zinnia.

“It’s not uncommon for people to be overcome with emotion – not sadness but just having no idea of what the tour guide goes through on a daily basis and then coming to that realisation and becoming very emotional about it.”

– David Simmonds.

In Melbourne, there’s about 15 people employed at the venue which is run under a partnership with Guide Dogs Australia and overseen in Melbourne by Guide Dogs Victoria. It’s the first instance of a partnership between Dialogue in the Dark and a not-for-profit organisation.

Karen Hayes, chief executive of Guide Dogs Victoria, says Dialogue in the Dark represents a “wonderful opportunity” for the organisation to offer “meaningful job and social inclusion opportunities for people who are blind and vision impaired, and ultimately, for the sighted community to really take a walk in the shoes of someone with vision impairment”.

“People can expect to feel exhilarated, empathetic and inspired as a result of this experience,” she adds. “Together we have the power to create a lasting social impact on our prejudices of blindness as a result of what our guides can teach us.”

For David Simmonds, meanwhile, being involved in the project is a “rewarding” experience.

“[P]eople [can be] in tears in the final environment…where you have the opportunity to have some extended dialogue with the tour guides,”  says the 45-year-old father of three who gradually lost his sight between the ages of 15 and his early 30s thanks to a condition called retinitis pigmentosa.

“It’s not uncommon for people to be overcome with emotion – not sadness but just having no idea of what the tour guide goes through on a daily basis and then coming to that realisation and becoming very emotional about it.”

Dialogue in the Dark is located in The District Docklands, Melbourne. For more information, see www.dialogueinthedark.com.au.

 

Donate



sight plus logo

Sight+ is a new benefits program we’ve launched to reward people who have supported us with annual donations of $26 or more. To find out more about Sight+ and how you can support the work of Sight, head to our Sight+ page.

Musings

TAKE PART IN THE SIGHT READER SURVEY!

We’re interested to find out more about you, our readers, as we improve and expand our coverage and so we’re asking all of our readers to take this survey (it’ll only take a couple of minutes).

To take part in the survey, simply follow this link…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

For security, use of Google's reCAPTCHA service is required which is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.