The Mind of Brian Charlson

One of the things my blind friends and I attending the 200th Birthday celebrations for Louis Braille here in Paris, France wanted to do is go to the “Dining In The Dark” restaurant. This is one of the restaurants where guests are guided into a completely dark dining room where they order their food, eat their meal, interact with the wait staff and other diners without being able to see anything.
Why would a blind person want to go to such a place? We wanted to see how sighted people reacted to what we do every day. We wanted to experience what it would be like to have the tables turned.
Can you imagine our surprise when we were told that we would not be allowed to bring our Seeing Eye dogs in with us? “People may trip over them”, “it will be dangerous for our blind wait staff”. “Let us ask the blind staff what they think.” “They don’t want you to bring in your dogs.” “They want you to leave your dogs where some of them leave their dogs while working.”
Now I understand that not all guide dog users show much respect for the needs of others; letting their dogs sprawl in the aisles, acting oblivious to their dogs while in public spaces and the like, but we had yet to set foot in their dining room. How, may I ask you, can the owners of this restaurant allow their blind staff to set policy on who may or may not bring in their guide dogs? Isn’t that a matter of law or at least management policy?
We decided not to stay but rather to go to a nearby restaurant. This included two of our six who did not use guide dogs. We indicated to the “Dining In The Dark” reception staff that we would be reporting their action to the conference planners for possible legal action.
During dinner, we asked ourselves if we had been hasty and came to the conclusion that had we known that our dogs would not be allowed in the dining room, we may have left them in our hotel rooms and gone with our canes. I for one would not have gone. It is to me more than just a matter of preference, it is a matter of my right to move through public spaces without regard to whether or not I have a guide dog. This was not a matter of public safety, only reasonable accommodation.
Two of my guide dog using friends are going to try to return to the restaurant later this week without their dogs. I will not be joining them but do not hold it against them that they wish to go. I wonder if I would be willing to go if I hadn’t had a number of very bad experiences with taxies going to and from dinner that night.
For now, Dining in the Dark is not for me and I encourage others to take a pass as well. Even if what they did was legal, what they did was wrong. We need to let them know that there is a price to their actions.