Dining in the Dark

Here is a picture of me and Justin at the annual "Dining in the Dark" benefit sponsored by Alphapointe Association for the Blind, a Kansas City-based not-for-profit and one of Justin's new clients.

Or at least, that's all that we were able to see. This fundraiser seeks to create awareness of the challenges that blind and visually-impaired people experience every day by serving a full dinner in complete darkness. It was quite an experience - imagine being surrounded on every side by the blackness you see to the right and trying to reach for a wine glass, butter your roll with a knife, cut food that you can't see and try to get it to your mouth - all while attempting to make conversation with people who you cannot see nor make eye contact with and who you can barely hear in a large, crowded ballroom. The entire ballroom had been COMPLETELY blacked out with dark curtains...no shadows, no hints of any light whatsoever. All the servers, who had the most difficult job of all, were either fully blind or had extremely limited vision - and none of them were trained waitstaff. In just 2 short days, they were all able to master the layout of the tables, the placement of all the food, drinks and carts, and did everything from clear our plates to pour our wine without a hitch. It makes you more aware of how much one can rely on their other senses (touching everything to get a feel for your surroundings, listening more carefully to what someone is actually saying...) to compensate for loss of vision. And it certainly gives you a greater appreciation for how well blind individuals can get along and adapt to everyday tasks that the rest of us take for granted. Despite this, unemployment among blind people in the United States is 70%...while the rest of us bemoan the 10% figure that came out the other day. Fortunately, adaptive technologies are only getting better - so today, a blind person can browse the internet, cook a gourmet meal, or pick a song on their iPod. Alphapointe makes these and other resources available to the blind community, in addition to providing financial support, training, and job placement assistance. A wonderful organization and definitely a memorable event.