Dialogue in the Dark

Monday evening we went to the Children’s museum in Holon. They have an exhibit called Dialogue in the Dark there. The exhibit is meant to give the visitor a brief taste of life without sight.

 Once we were divided into groups of ten we were sent into the dark. “Meyer, I’m sending in a group of ten.” “OK” came a voice from the dark. We walked into the darkness hoping there would be someone out there to guide us through. It was literally pitch black; I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. So we started our tour, with one hand on the wall and one held out in front of us to warn of approaching objects.

The exhibit takes you through 7 rooms, where you experience different things in the dark. We were required to rely on our guide, Meyer, and our other senses to guide us through the maze of darkness. We followed Meyer into the first room, which was a garden. As soon as I walked in (well shuffled to keep from falling on my face in the dark) I could hear frogs, birds, and running water. Since I had no idea where the room ended I just kept walking until I couldn’t anymore. This led me to bump into someone. Not sure who it was, but we ended up doing a hug-dance thing while exploring our surroundings. We experienced the garden for a bit then stumbled into the next room which was a beach house. The waves were crashing outside the window, and someone left a pair of shoes on a hook. Luckily the shoes weren’t smelly, because I walked right into them. Next we stumbled onto a boat. How did we find the boat and not die while getting in? We groped each other a lot and followed the soothing sound of our guide’s voice. It was kind of like a Disney ride, and we sang a round of Row Row Row Your Boat. We went to a market, listened to the sounds of people haggling, and tried to figure out what the vegetables in front of us were. I definitely had to rely on my other senses. The last part of the tour through the dark was the literal “dialogue” of Dialogue in the Dark. We sat in a café and talked to our guide, Meyer, about what it’s like being blind. Meyer has been blind his whole life, but he doesn’t let it keep him from living a full life. Since he’s been blind his whole life, getting through the exhibit in the dark was a piece of cake for him. We had a really interesting chat and listened to his friend Yehuda play the piano beautifully. Yehuda is also blind.

I was surprisingly not as disoriented as I thought I would be. Special awareness was really hard/impossible, which was a little off-putting. However, I found that if I closed my eyes I was much more comfortable. Everything is just as dark with my eyes open and closed, but when my eyes were open they were constantly trying to focus, which was impossible. I tried to close my eyes and trust our guide and my other senses.

It’s amazing how much we take our ability to see for granted. Sight is the more dominant of our sense it seems, and for the most part we have no idea how to cope without. We do have 4 other senses though. Without being able to see you have to rely on them more. You are forced to listen better. Sight also tends to affect our other senses. We assume that pretty food will taste better, we see the lightening and know the thunder is coming and are ready for it. I always knew all of this in theory. My mom is practically blind, but she hears everything. Dialogue in the Dark gave me the opportunity to truly understand the importance of sight and how lucky I am to have it, but also the importance of using my other senses.