Late last week, live on our show, Ken experienced what it’s like to eat when you can’t see. We set this up to highlight the upcoming fundraiser for Deaf/Blind Ontario, Dining in the Dark. Guests are served a formal meal and have to eat it while blindfolded.
In addition to trying to navigate his way around a pancake and bacon breakfast, I threw in a couple of curveballs by feeding Ken spoonfuls of stuff he had to identify. It’s not as easy as it sounds when you can’t see what’s coming. He thought raspberry jam was strawberry, that Nutella was peanut butter, and couldn’t figure out what the baby food was but he made the face a baby would make when it ate the turkey and sweet potato medley. Did I mention that it was cold? (I can be cruel!)
Throughout the experiment, Ken kept saying it was much more difficult than he anticipated. He attempted to shovel in half a pancake, believing it was just a bite, and lost track of his maple syrup and his orange juice. If the goal was to create empathy, it worked well. I had to hold back from helping him although he didn’t really need me. He spilled less food on himself while blindfolded than I do on a regular day.
For guests at the fundraiser, it’s a serious but fun challenge. They know they can take off their blindfolds and go back to the world as it was, and they are grateful for it. We posted video of our radio experiment, optimized for smartphones (before someone tells me I held my phone the wrong way!)
It’s not as easy as it may appear. Try pouring a hot coffee into your mug without burning your hand or spilling; try putting jam on your morning bagel or trying to figure out what that can of stuff is in your cupboard. Trick for lunch, stick to finger foods and for go the knife and fork. Do your top, skirt and shoes all match? Imagine trying to put your makeup on, try it one morning with your lipstick.
Technology has opened the door to resolving many of these issues, but the best answer is still common sense and organization and always putting things back where you got them from.