Participants gain insight into the skills someone who is blind or visually impaired uses to navigate a restaurant and eat a meal.  They have the opportunity to have conversations with others while under blindfold, which is a window into the experience of another human being as they interact socially.  Participants gain new appreciation and respect for the skills and abilities of individuals with vision challenges. As unusual as it seems, the most common comment from participants following their participation in the Dark Meal is, “This was very eye-opening.”

Also, in allowing themselves to be vulnerable under blindfold, participants tend to open up to one another in ways they do not in other situations.