Dialogue In The Dark

I follow this Facebook page called “What’s On Melbourne” and it linked me to a dialogue in the dark tour. The tour is one hour in complete darkness so you can get a sense of how blind people go through life. Of course I had to do that!

I came to the location 5min before the tour started but it was fine, they still let me in. I was in a group of five people and we all got a cane and we got explained how to use it. We walked around the corner and there it was. Complete darkness. We were blind. Now we met our blind tour guide who let us through the area. It felt strange. We walked through a park, through a market, across the street. We drove with the tram and went through a house. We used our canes and of course we had to speak with each other. It was strange for me because I didn’t know how I felt.

The guide said we can ask questions and we had lots of them. What I really wanted to know was how do you know where to go? How can you walk without hurting other people or get hurt by them? The way I walked with the cane I promise you I would have hurt a lot of people. But our guide said most of the people see you so they clear the way. But I still can’t imagine it. I had so much thoughts running through my mind I think I was also a bit overwhelmed because I came to the tour without any expectations and then you get this strange feeling and you start to wonder how blind people manage their life. I also asked the guide if I see a blind person should I offer my help because I always felt very insecure about it. I didn’t want to make the other person feel like they couldn’t do it on their own. But he said I should always ask if they need help, they say yes or no anyway. And he would be very happy if someone would offer their help to him.

When the tour was over it felt like it was 15min but it was even a bit more than an hour. I couldn’t believe it. I really wished it was longer. Not knowing what the other person looks like and communicate with the other people without actually seeing them felt really good. You don’t care what you look like. You just care about what is in front of you and how you will manage your way. I don’t want to say too much about the tour itself because you should find out on your own and I’m pretty sure everybody has their own opinion about it. But it’s definitely worth to go there because you will learn a lot. And next time you see a blind person don’t be shy to offer your help. I won’t be anymore!