Blind artist invites audience to experience Ottawa with their eyes closed

If you're in downtown Ottawa this weekend, you might see a blind man leading dozens of people around City Hall with their eyes closed.

A Vancouver artist is hosting two marches to fight stereotypes against visual impairments. Carmen Papalia lost his sight in college, but he prefers not to use the term "blind."

"I'm non-visual," he said.

Papalia has marched with strangers all over the continent, encouraging people to experience what happens when you don't have your vision.

He began while he was living in Oregon. "I started putting the call out on Facebook: 'If you want to learn how to walk with your eyes closed, show up here'," he said.

"I walk the route until I'm comfortable, and then I invite the public to walk with me."

The participants hold hands and form a giant human chain. Important route information gets passed down the line like a game of telephone.

"The idea is that you're becoming comfortable in that non-visual space. Part of the walk is also about modelling trust with the group," he added.

Megaphone over cane

In addition to his awareness march, Papalia will be doing a performance piece called White Cane Amplified. He replaces his cane with a megaphone and navigates the streets by relying on passersby to answer his call.

The idea came because he has never liked using a visual impairment cane, he said. He's customized his so there is no red tape and it now has a wooden handle.

"I want to disrupt that signal that the cane always transmits," Papalia said. "Instead of the cane speaking for me I wanted to speak for myself."

Papalia will be performing the March for a New Accessibility at City Hall on Sunday at 2 p.m., and White Cane Amplified on Monday at 5 p.m.