EXHIBITION

The Experience

Visitors are led by blind or visually impaired guides through a specially constructed and totally darkened Exhibition, in which sounds, wind, temperatures, and textures covey the characteristics of common daily environments such as a park or cityscape.

In the dark, these environments take on a whole new dimension. Visitors must rely on the guides for security and orientation in this world without pictures. Relying also on their other senses, visitors learn to “see” in an entirely new way. Their experience leads to reflection: social borders are reduced and ignorance gets changed into openness and respect.

Click here to check out some video.

History

In February of 2008, Premier Exhibitions, Inc. entered into an agreement with Andreas Heinecke, PhD, the founder of DIALOG IN THE DARK, to bring his groundbreaking Exhibition to the United States. Heinecke experienced first hand the lack of employment opportunities for people who are blind and visually impaired when he worked as Vice-Director of the Stiftung Blindenanstalt (Foundation for the Blind) in Hamburg, Germany. He concluded that prejudice created fear, avoidance, and stereotypes, which prevented the disabled from accessing education, information, career opportunities, transportation, and leisure activities. He further concluded that these factors led to worldwide discrimination and marginalization.

Inspired by the philosophy of Martin Buber, which proposes, “…The only way of learning is by encounter,” Heineke concluded that by facilitating an interaction between the “abled” and the “disabled,” prejudices were reduced and new understandings emerged that had lingering positive social ramifications. To this end he created DIALOG IN THE DARK.

In recognition of his pioneering work, Dr. Heineke was awarded a Fellowship in 2005 by Ashoka, a global organization that recognizes social entrepreneurs who strive to make a positive social impact through innovative solutions.

Since its creation in 1988, five million people in 22 countries have attended the DIALOG IN THE DARK experience.