pitchroll
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5 years ago
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on: I'm going to experiment by being Blind and Alone for 24 Hours
If you have the opportunity, post-Covid19, I recommend checking out one of these places that allow visitors to experience being blind.
In Germany one such place may be found in Frankfurt, it's called DialogMuseum. I believe similar setups can be found in other countries too, someone mentioned the Netherlands.
For me this visit was a bit of a revelation. The way it works is you book a guided tour, at that time they had 60 and 90 minutes options. You get there and are handed off a white cane and then enter through a corridor as a group led by a visually impaired guide who will take care of the group.
From that point on, the place becomes professionally(!) pitch black, there is no slight source of light, the eyes cannot see anything wide open even even after the few minutes it would normally take to adjust, this actually triggers a feeling of uneasiness, and the guide carefully checks if anyone goes into a panic attack - there are actually exits you can be guided to if you can't follow the tour for any reason.
The place is split into "rooms" which simulate different environments: you go to a park where you need to avoid hitting trees, then a boat ride that is a bit of a challenge to board, then trying to cross a street with a high curb and traffic light that you need to figure when it's safe and in the end we went to a bar where I just handed my wallet to the bartender since I could not figure out how to prepare the right amount of money - got the wallet back and actually they took just the right amount of money!
The environments are built authentically at least feel that way to the touch or bump, and there's also sound effects for completion.
That tour gave me a lot of insights and respect towards the everyday challenges a visually impaired person encounters, that I otherwise only theoretically had.
