Finland
participants
Goal of 'Coffee in the dark' was to give students a new way to meet others, get out of their comfort zones and raise awareness on blindness.
First, we had a student from the Equality Wing talk about her everyday life as a blind person. Then participants were blindfolded and led to their tables. Participants were asked to identify fruits and spices on the tables, and roll buns from a dough while blindfolded. When sweet buns were fresh from the oven, volunteers served them with coffee and tea. After this we had an open discussion without blindfolds about everyone's experiences in the event and blindness in general.
Participants and volunteers were eager to be a part of the event and hear about the experiences of a blind student. Volunteers leant how to lead a blind, and students were quick and creative on solving tasks together and rolling dough while blindfolded. One student mentioned that the event reminded him of taking better care of his health, and some noticed how much more descriptive they have to be when talking to people with visual impairments .