Dialogue in the Dark

Dialogue in the Dark
Established	1988
Location	Dialogue Social Enterprise, Hamburg, Germany
Director	Andreas Heinecke
Website	http://www.dialogue-in-the-dark.com

Dialogue in the Dark ("Dialog in the Dark" in American promotional materials) is an awareness raising exhibition. It is a social franchising company, offering exhibitions and business training in total darkness, creating jobs for the blind, disabled and disadvantaged worldwide. In Dialogue in the Dark blind guides lead visitors in small groups through different settings in absolute darkness. The visitors learn how to interact without sight by using their other senses. The exhibition offers the public an experience that can change mindsets on disability and diversity, and increase tolerance. Since its first opening in 1988 over six million visitors from more than 25 countries have experienced Dialogue in the Dark, giving over 6,000 blind people jobs.^[1]

History

The founder, Andreas Heinecke (*1955), had both Jewish and German ancestry. At the age of 13 he realized that members of his mother’s family had been victims of the Holocaust and members of his father’s family had been supporters of the Nazi regime.^[2] From that point on Andreas Heinecke got involved with the issue of marginalization.

The foundation stone for the social enterprise Dialogue in the Dark was laid in 1986. At that time the founder, Andreas Heinecke, worked as a journalist and documentary writer for a broadcasting corporation in Germany. One day he was instructed to develop a training program for a colleague who had lost his eyesight. At the first meeting Andreas Heinecke felt above all pity and insecurity. However, he was fascinated by the world of blind people, and he was shocked by the discrimination against them, to which they are still exposed today.

In December 1988 Dialogue in the Dark had its premiere in Frankfurt, Germany. For over 10 years was touring throughout the world as a travelling exhibition in museums or as a special event on fairs and festivals. The first permanent exhibition was established in Hamburg, Germany (Dialog im Dunkeln) in 2000.

There have been exhibitions in more than 150 cities in over 30 countries in America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Meanwhile there are now permanent exhibitions in Japan, Italy, Israel, Austria and the USA. The most recent being the temporary exhibition in New York City which opened in August 2011(www.dialognyc.com).^[3]

The founder, Andreas Heinecke, was announced Social Entrepreneur by Ashoka (2005) and the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship (2007).^[4]

Idea

The exhibitions idea is very simple. Visitors are led by blind or partially sighted guides through completely darkened rooms. They are confronted with everyday situations, like crossing a street or finding a bench in a park, without seeing anything.^[5]

Roles are reversed, because the sighted people are torn out of their social routines and blind people give them a sense of orientation and mobility. During and after the tour visitors have the opportunity to ask questions they normally might never have asked a blind person, reducing barriers on both sides. As a “platform for communication”^[6] the emphasis is not on blindness, but rather on the importance of empathy and solidarity. The exhibition wants to facilitate social inclusion of marginalized people on a global basis.

Mission

Dialogue in the Dark has two main goals. The first is to increase the public’s awareness of and tolerance for “otherness”, thereby overcoming barriers between “us” and “them”. Sighted people enter the darkness and, as they experience their own limits, they begin to question their assumptions and prejudices. Placing themselves in the care of a blind person helps people become more receptive to the strengths of those who are often assumed to be weak. The darkness becomes a place for unencumbered communication and a beneficial exchange.

The second goal is to create jobs for disadvantaged people by turning perceived deficits into potential assets. In fact, Dialogue in the Dark has as its mission “to facilitate social inclusion of marginalized people on a global basis”.^[7] This vision finds practical expression in the employment opportunities the exhibition creates for blind people.

References

1. ^ Ashoka Germany website.
2. ^ Ashoka Germany website.
3. ^ Dialogue in the Dark international webpage.
4. ^ Dialogue in the Dark international webpage.
5. ^ Dialogue in the Dark international webpage.
6. ^ Dialogue in the Dark Atlanta, USA.
7. ^ Dialogue in the Dark international webpage.

External links

• Dialogue in the Dark international website

Coordinates: 53°32′46″N 10°00′07″E / 53.546°N 10.002°E / 53.546; 10.002