ZAPOPAN, Jalisco; November 1, 2023.- In the framework of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities celebrated on December 3, last November 1, at the Guadalajara campus of the Universidad Panamericana, the Social Commitment department through the Strategic Social Project COLABORE, carried out the D-Day: Dialogues in the Dark with the aim of raise awareness among the university community about visual impairmentas well as create more culture of inclusion of people with disabilities.
Dialogues in the dark is an experience that allows us to feel the way blind people live day by day, through this tour the senses are awakened to live the adventure.
A Sensory Immersion
A concept created by German-born Andreas Heinecke, Dialogues in the Dark is a sensory laboratory created to raise awareness and understanding of visual impairment. Visitors, deprived of their sense of sight, awaken their other senses in an experience of smells, tastes, sounds and textures.
In its adaptation, 123 members of the university community participated, who, in groups of 8 people, received an introduction to learn: what is visual impairment, what do visually impaired people need from society, the 5 basic rules to help visually impaired people and the explanation of the white cane.
University Commitment
The participants covered their eyes to become blind and went through 3 modules with different environments each, they had to use all their available senses to identify where they were, so we visited a forest, a market and attended a geography class.
Each person related to their environment in a unique way and found in this challenge an opportunity to make the most of their senses, whether to obtain information, orient themselves, communicate, among others, while each module led to its own reflection.
Innovation and Accessibility
This 2023, the theme chosen by the WHO for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities is "Transformative solutions for inclusive development: the role of innovation to promote an accessible and equitable world". Therefore, each one of us has the commitment to work in concrete actions, that is why with our activations we want to lay the foundations that will raise awareness in our university community, training and forming people with social responsibility that work to create more culture in disability, in a natural way.
This December 3, celebrate with the people with disabilities around you and, above all, always seek to respect and include them.
