DIALOG IN THE DARK - New York City

Today, Cam and I went to a sensory tour of NYC to experience the city without actually seeing it. The Dialog In The Dark exhibit opened in New York City just three weeks ago at the South Street Seaport with the BODIES exhibition and the idea is that this becomes a permanent museum. However, this Dialog In The Dark initiative is not something new – it has been around for quite some time, starting in the 80s in Europe and expanding throughout the world (been in 22 countries and 130 cities). I had never “seen” something like it! (Yep, tons of puns like this one in the advertisements.)

So the tour is for a maximum of ten people but for our particular shift we were only three: the two of us and this semi-annoying guy we shall call Farid. We had to sign a form saying we wouldn’t sue the Museum if we fell, had a panic attack, or died, and afterwards we were given walking canes and entered a room were we were seated for an introductory video. The lights started to dim and our tour guide, Romeo, walked in. We didn’t see him, just heard his voice. It was pitch-black and we could not see a single thing.  ABSOLUTE DARKNESS.

All the tour guides are visually impaired and they guide you through the cities landmarks, making you feel quite safe. Following Romeo’s voice, we did the following:

1)   Strolled (well, more like stumbled) through Central Park. We heard the noises from the Zoo, the children playing, discovered bikes and benches, and wet our hands in the fountain.

2)   Entered a supermarket. We made a mess trying to figure out what the things on the shelves were. Romeo said that in real life he doesn’t go around the supermarket squeezing ketchup bottles and smelling pretzel packets to figure out what they are, but there are people in the supermarket that help him out. Or he shops online. Online?? How does a blind person manage to see the screen? Well, there are tons of programs and applications that read out loud and respond to voice commands and stuff life that. Who knew you could write an email, read online newspapers and get on Facebook without needing your eyes?

3)   Rode on the subway, minus the nasty smells and crazy people #win. The subway was super cool, it had sliding doors and actually moved! The seats were just as the subway ones, and there were speakers all around of people talking on the phone and asking you to get out of the way and stuff like that, very realistic!

4)   Experienced Times Square. Even the temperature changed when we left the subway. Times Square without the crazy ass lights was nothing like the real thing, but the noise was still pretty intense. Romeo urged us constantly to discover objects and figure out what they were. Farid was a cheater, he actually got out his cell phone light (which he was not supposed to have with him anyways! And his pants glowed a couple times ‘cause someone kept calling him). WTF, thanks a lot for reminding me I am not blind for an hour, Farid.  

5)   Had a nice little chat at a Café. This is where most of the Dialog In The Dark took place, and Romeo opened the table for discussion and questions. We could ask him ANYTHING we wanted about his life. This was pretty cool, we learnt tons about what it means to be blind.

One interesting thing was when Farid asked how Romeo pictured himself NOW (he became blind at age two). He didn’t picture himself – didn’t really think about what he looked like. I realized the contrast between his attitude and my attitude if I suddenly became blind – I would need to constantly picture stuff, including myself, because I’ve always been able to see. This is why I also felt the need to picture him throughout the tour, and from his voice, touch and presence I nailed his size (big) and color (black). But really, physical appearances did not matter AT ALL here. In the end I had no interest in knowing what he looked like; I had liked his personality so much already through what he said. In a sense it must be a gift to be blind and get to know people through their voices, understanding their personalities without noticing the outside appearance (although a really dreadful voice must also be a turn-off even if the person has a heart of gold...)

It was great walking through these rooms (which would have probably looked horrible and bare with the lights on) feeling like we were actually surrounded by an imaginary reality. Every tour must be different, as there are many tour guides and they all personalize it their way. The group you get also makes a difference because from the questions people ask the tour takes its shape. Our particular experience was excellent and Romeo was just amazing, really funny and insightful, I loved him. I can’t describe how much I admire Romeo and everyone that lost/never had the sense of sight and still lives their life at the fullest. Dialog In The Dark ($18 for students) was totally worth it and I highly recommend you check it out if you're in New York!