Hong Kong - Dialogue in the Dark


One of my favorite experiences in Hong Kong was Dialogue in the Dark which is a 75 minute adventure in complete darkness. It was dark to the point that for the entire 75 minutes I could not even see the hand in front of my face, and trust me I tried pretty hard! It is the longest I have ever been without my vision and an incredible learning experience.

Everyone, in our group of 6, was given a white cane to help us get around on our journey through darkness, we also had a tour guide who was blind. Our guide was Susan and we were first introduced to her right after entering the dark so we had no visual image of what she looked like. It was amazing how vulnerable it felt to not have the use of one of my main senses. I found myself clinging to Susan's voice as if she was my anchor in a sea of black.

As Kingsley and I stumbled our way through the exhibit we went: into a park, crossed over a bridge with a waterfall, shopped in a grocery store, crossed a road at a crosswalk and ordered drinks at a cafe. All very simple things to do with vision but incredibly difficult without. For example when grocery shopping there is no way to tell a can of soup from a can of beans. Or what kind of cereal is in the box you are holding. Is it your beloved frosted flakes??? Or the healthier but bland corn flakes??? As much as I love surprises, I cant even comprehend having to deal with that level of surprise on a daily basis.

Another difficult task was ordering a drink at a cafe. The person behind the counter (who was also blind) asked for a certain amount of money and I had to trust that she would tell me what the bills and coins I handed were (she had a special money reader tool). We then had to find our way from the counter to our seats in the cafe with our drinks and white cane. Needless to say I don't think anyone in our group was brave enough to order a hot drink during that task! I smartly ordered a bottle of water with a LID! Vulnerable doesn't even begin to describe how I was feeling.

At the end of the experience we finally walked back into the light which was incredibly disorienting. I had vertigo and my depth perception was off for a good 10 minutes! The best part was having the chance to see Susan for the first time. She was a tiny beautiful older Chinese woman. Susan also shared her story with us. She was born with vision but at age 3 became very sick and lost her vision. But that has not stopped her in any way. She got married, had 2 children who she raised at home by herself while her husband worked! That part was especially amazing to consider. How does someone take care of 2 children without vision??! Susan's kids are now grown and out of the house so she now works part time at Dialogue in the Dark.

I'm still trying to process everything I encountered and learned but overall it was an incredible experience that I highly recommend.

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