[josscrowcroft]

As great as this article is, the title should be "10 things I learned about accessibility by pretending..."

I was hoping it might be about somebody who was 'blind' for a week in everyday life, and the potential shifts in their subjective perception of reality this might have caused.. it's something I've wanted to do for a while – anyone know of anything like that, actually?

[nathell]

Whenever you have the chance of being in Central Europe -- Budapest, Prague or Warsaw -- don't miss the Invisible Exhibition.

http://invisibleexhibition.com/

I've been there, and it's been one of the most deeply touching experiences I've ever had. Highly recommended.

[chime]

I visited "Dialog in the Dark" exhibit in Atlanta with my wife a few years ago. It appears that is permanently closed but they opened a new one in NYC - http://www.dialognyc.com/ - however due to Sandy, it appears that is temporarily closed.

[opminion]

There is one in Hamburg [1], highly recommended.

It consists of a tour with several rooms modelling a variety of features of everyday life, including a boat trip. There is also a bar at the end, where you buy a drink (paying for it was rather humbling for me) and sit down around the guide for a final chat. You never get to see the guide.

You are given a walking stick but for me it was pretty useless, I was stumbling on everything and everyone the same.

They also offer dinners in the dark.

The best part of the experience for me was realising that you are in the blind person's (admittedly fake) world, some form of opposite of when the blind person is in your world when walking down the street and bumping against a car parked in the middle of the street crossing.

[1] http://www.dialog-im-dunkeln.de/

[bostonpete]

> anyone know of anything like that, actually?

No, but Eddie Murphy famously pretended to be white for a while and the results were frankly shocking (got free newspapers, easier time getting loans, etc.)

[rsingel]

No, that was just an SNL sketch: http://www.snotr.com/video/422/Eddie_Murphy_goes_undercover

Funny, but not real undercover.

There was a famous book called Black Like Me about a white guy who pretended to be black in the south in the late 50s/early 60s.

[jimmytucson]

Not only that, but did he do this for a week, or just for a few hours here and there?

[silktide]

Haha yes you're right, but the title was getting quite long, and I was hoping that would be implied! I could have extended this further and written about how being blind affected other aspects of my life, but I'm a web developer and wanted to write something about my field of interest. I too would be interested in reading an article about how it affects other aspects of life. maybe you should write one!

[anoother]

"10 things I learned about web accessibility by pretending..."