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Logitech’s Private Blind Cafe Experience

Logitech Hosts Blind Cafe, Unique Organization Dedicated to Raising Awareness of Disability

The Logitech Blind Cafe Experience…

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How would it feel to lose your sight?

Imagine the rush of anxiety that would follow as you realized you would have to rely on the remaining four human senses — touch, hearing, smell, and taste.

How would it feel to walk through a room, arms out, using solely tactile information to navigate?

This is what Logitech employees experienced on November 8th, when the company partnered with the Blind Cafe, a positive social change organization that brought its eye-opening, immersive experience to Logitech’s North American headquarters in San Jose, California.

The Blind Cafe is a community awareness concert, discussion, and dinner in the dark wrapped into one all-encompassing event.

“Going forward, I want accessibility and overall inclusivity at Logitech to be even more top of mind,” says Pontus Wahlgren, Logitech Global Head of Design for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, who helped organize the event with the aim of reaching deeper levels of understanding and empathy throughout the company.

“You can’t simply tell people what to do or how to feel,” Wahlgren explains. “It’s better to live it and experience it; events like the Blind Cafe are one way to gain empathy and see things differently for themselves.”

Before the event began, Blind Cafe participants gathered in a dimly-lit lobby to ground themselves and prepare for the hours ahead. Nearly sixty Logitech innovators from around the world came together for this event with the shared goals of both building their knowledge of disabilities and developing new ways to better embed accessibility features into Logitech products and solutions

Just outside of the Blind Cafe itself, attendees explored a group of exhibits titled “Past”, “Present”, and “Future”. The displays, organized and facilitated by the Logitech Accessibility team, showed innovative accessibility designs from throughout modern history — from typewriters and electric toothbrushes to keyboards and exciting Logitech prototypes that encapsulate the company’s vision of accessibility in tech. Many of these products were at first intended exclusively for those with disabilities but slowly grew in popularity, eventually reaching the mainstream.

After exploring the exhibits, it was time to enter the darkness of the Blind Cafe.

In groups of seven or eight, attendees held onto each other’s shoulders and entered a dark tunnel that twisted and turned its way through a narrow corridor. The procession was led by a Blind Ambassador, a legally blind member of the Blind Cafe’s staff, who guided attendees forward into the main dining room.

The tunnel itself was built into a small slit in a black curtain and only wide enough to accommodate a single-file line. This part of the experience, called the “Trust Walk”, is intentionally ominous — and essential to building connection and trust with those around you, a theme that resonates throughout the Blind Cafe.

“Before going in, I was pretty anxious,” admits Bliss Buter-Thompson, Head of Packaging at Logitech. “Then, when we actually started walking and held onto each other, I felt safe; it was definitely a unifying moment.”

That sense of unity is exactly what the Blind Cafe creates, and in the midst of the initial shock and fear brought about by the onset of total darkness, reminds participants that they are, indeed, safe — and even more importantly, together.

However, the darkness didn’t truly set in until attendees reached their tables, when for some, the loss of sight became challenging.

“People around me started freaking out a little,” explains Sacni Leon, Head of Direct-to-Consumer Operations at Logitech.

At their seats, attendees found a locally-sourced meal from a menu crafted by a regional professional chef. Slowly, people found ways to explore their meals, smelling and touching until they had a rough idea of what the food was. Guests weren’t told what meal they were eating when they sat down to eat, making the process of uncertainty and discovery all the more important in the overall Blind Cafe experience.

Some reported accidentally spilling food, touching hands, and generally struggling without vision. This adversity is intentional, aiming towards building a special kind of unity that both brings attendees closer to their tablemates and fosters a more intimate meal.

“As you were eating, the flavors were stronger than normal,” says Leon. “You’re focused on the food, not what’s going on around you.”

“Eventually, some people at my table started laughing,” she adds.

Towards the end of the meal, Blind Ambassadors asked their guests to guess what they had eaten. It was something spicy, with rice, mixed vegetables, and some type of meat in a coating of thick, aromatic sauce.

There were several guesses: chicken biryani, tikka masala, green curry.

The answer? Thai basil chicken, mixed veggies, and brown rice.

The dessert, which was equally as nebulous as the entree, with light, airy texture and faint tropical aroma, turned out to be a bowl of mango mousse.

As thought-provoking as the meal was, the experience didn’t end after eating. The three-hour event continued with a Q&A session on disability with the Blind Ambassadors followed by a musical performance, organized by Brian “Rosh” Rocheleau, an experienced musician and founder of the Blind Cafe.

“Being able to share our challenges with individuals who can learn from them and grow their perspectives is really special,” says Tekesha “TK” Saffold, one of the afternoon’s Blind Ambassadors, who lost her sight at the age of twenty-four.

Her insights proved invaluable during the Q&A session, which covered topics ranging from accessible product design, the practical limitations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and more. Both TK and Richie Flores, the afternoon’s second Blind Ambassador, have backgrounds in disability advocacy — and are paramount to the organization’s commitment to increasing the visibility of blind individuals in modern society..

“I love creating a sense of comfort such that people can look inwards and open themselves up to other peoples’ worlds,” she explains.

Following a heartfelt discussion, the afternoon concluded with a short acoustic performance by Richie, who is also the lead Blind Ambassador for the organization.

“The sense of listening has always been my primary way of gathering information and enjoying life,” he explains.

Flores, who lost his sight as an infant, is also a singer-songwriter born in Texas and currently living in Berkeley, California. An eclectic blend of alt-country, folk, and heartland rock, his uniquely cozy brand of americana invokes the likes of Jason Isbell, Whiskeytown, and Springsteen. His music can be found under both the Richie Flores Project and the Constellation Prize on Spotify, Apple Music, and other streaming platforms. The Blind Cafe’s official Spotify is linked here.

“I consider myself more of a writer,” says Flores when asked about his music, “I dabbled with writing poetry when I was younger and found that if you put it to music, it brightens it up more.”

For many, Flores’ performance was the most memorable part of the afternoon. Being able to listen to live music without any visual distraction was a unique experience for most of the participants, and the Blind Cafe considers it an integral part of the event.

“We use music in the dark not just as a way to raise awareness of disability, but to bring people back to that sense of — ‘oh, what am I going to listen to next?’” explains Flores.

“For me, the music was definitely the most emotional part of the afternoon,” asserts Buter-Thompson. “There were lyrics about blindness, darkness, and mortality — it was pretty intense.”

After the performance, attendees were brought back into candlelight, where they could share key thoughts and takeaways in a more familiar environment.

“My favorite part of the experience was the connectedness that I felt with people because there wasn’t anything visual to go by,” explains Wahlgren.

This event served to drive empathy and understanding for accessibility professionals at Logitech, whose aim is to embed innovative, inclusive solutions in future products for years to come. While there is still work to be done, the Blind Cafe is a major step towards that goal — and the first in a series of events dedicated to increasing accessibility knowledge throughout the company.

“Being able to ask the Blind Staff such vulnerable questions was super impactful for me too,” Wahlgren adds, referencing the Q&A with Blind Ambassadors.

“We’re starting to increasingly include people with disabilities into the design process early on. and although an event like this doesn’t make people an expert in blindness or disability in general, it creates the empathy we need to bring inclusivity to the forefront of all of our design conversations. We’ve still got a long way to go, but I’m so proud of how far we’ve come.”

For companies or large parties, follow this link to arrange private events. For additional information on the Blind Cafe, including upcoming dates, click here.