KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 21 — Stevens Chan never suspected he had glaucoma when he first went to see a doctor for his migraine.

But he was eventually diagnosed with the disease and lost his sight. He was only 45.

That was about four years ago.

To prevent others from experiencing what he went through, it became his mission to create awareness about blindness.

On November 2012, the founder and president of the Glaucoma Society of Malaysia started the Malaysian chapter of Dialogue in the Dark, a social movement that offers workshops, activities, games and events in total darkness to give participants a new perspective on visual impairment.

Dialogue in the Dark opened to the public early this month and will be opened till May 31, 2014 at Petrosains, The Discovery Centre Suria KLCC.

Imagine having to rely on your sense of touch, smell, taste and hearing when you are put in the shoes of a visually-impaired person.

When you enter the exhibition, you will be thrown into total pitch darkness. It’s definitely an eye-opening experience as you feel your way through the different galleries of a park, marketplace, cafe and more.

Visitors are given a briefing on how to use their cane to help them ‘see’ in the dark. — Picture by Saw Siow Feng

In groups of eight, you will be given a white cane and you will be guided by a visually-impaired guide. Initially, you will feel uncomfortable but as you go through the different scenarios, your other senses will pick up things you never realised were there when you have your sight.

“Dialogue in the Dark is a social enterprise where we run workshops, events and exhibitions such as these to raise funds to build an academy for the visually impaired. It was founded by a German journalist 25 years ago and every day 7.6 million visitors experience Dialogue in the Dark in more than 30 countries and 130 cities worldwide,” said Chan.

The workshops, games and activities in the dark are created by the visually impaired. To date, thousands of blind guides and trainers have found employment through Dialogue in the Dark. It was featured at the World Economic Forum in 2007.

“The exhibition will be based in KLCC for six months and eventually we will move to a permanent location in The School, Jaya One. Besides team training, we will also organise social events such as dining in the dark, lunch in the dark, birthday in the dark and concert in the dark,” said Chan.

His biggest challenge at first was funding and also the attitudes of people. Before finding out about Dialogue in the Dark, Chan was looking for ways to educate the public about glaucoma and other causes of blindness through giving out free eye checks at shopping malls.

“Most of the people did not want to do the eye screening even though it was free. They said they did not have any eye problems and felt that it was unnecessary. The problem is that people take it for granted,” said Chan.

Exasperated, he tried other ways to create awareness through other types of exhibitions, creative arts, charity events and more.

Eventually, the final piece of the puzzle fell into place when he stumbled upon Dialogue in the Dark one day as he was searching for ideas online.

“Dialogue in the Dark is not only creating a milestone in preventing blindness. It is hard for NGOs to raise funds and there are only so many dinners and marathons you can do. This social enterprise is financially independent as we have workshops to sustain this exhibition. Our aim is not to be expensive but to be accessible so that more Malaysians can come and experience Dialogue in the Dark,” said Chan.

Currently, the exhibition in KLCC has three galleries but there are plans to expand to five. Chan wanted to give tourists and locals a Malaysian experience so there are some familiar local attractions you will find in the dark.

“Our main focus is education especially the younger generation, to encourage empathy and appreciate life. Nowadays, children and youth do not have a sense of otherness like us baby boomers. The empathy is not really there and relationships are just on the surface. We use our eyes to make judgement but here, there is no judgement because we cannot see in the dark,” explained Chan.