Still Believing
in Dialogue.
DIALOGUE IMPACT REPORT 2025
24
locations
18
countries
488,476
visitors & participants
614+
employees & freelancers
64 %
workforce with disabilities
160,416
students & educators
A REFLECTION BY PEPE MACÍAS
Still Believing
in Dialogue
Sometimes I try to imagine ...
the world of the late 1980s, when Andreas Heinecke met the blind colleague who helped him find answers to his questions about human prejudice, and inspired the creation of Dialogue in the Dark®.
If I had to describe that time in one word, it would be hope.
Many people seemed to believe that humanity was moving towards a more promising future. Nearly four decades later, the world can feel very different: divided, polarised, and increasingly marked by loneliness and disconnection.
That is why Dialogue and
genuine human encounter
matter more than ever.
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Today, the first encounter may be with ourselves, with the people we spend so little time listening to. Darkness and silence invite us to rediscover our own capabilities and resilience. The next encounter is with others. Since the pandemic and the widespread use of screens, social circles have narrowed and isolation has grown. Entering a Dialogue experience now means more than understanding someone who faces social disadvantage. It means recognising ourselves again as social beings who remain capable of building a better future together.
This report presents what an extraordinary community of people who believe in dialogue achieved in 2025 – despite division, polarisation, hatred, pain, and the screens that increasingly stand between us.
It is a tribute to every operator, colleague, partner, and visitor who continues to believe in meeting one another, in listening, and ultimately, in humanity.
A MESSAGE FROM OUR CEO
BUILDING THE FUTURE OF DIALOGUE TOGETHER
If Dialogue matters more than ever, then our responsibility is to make sure the structures behind it are strong enough to carry its mission into the future.
2025 challenged us to do exactly that. It was a year of transformation, organisationally, economically and across our international network. Not everything was easy. But throughout this period of change, one thing remained constant: our shared belief in Dialogue.
For more than three decades, Dialogue has created spaces where people meet beyond assumptions and labels. People with disabilities and older people take visible roles as guides, facilitators and experts through lived experience. Through role reversal, participants are invited to question assumptions, recognise capabilities and experience inclusion rather than only talk about it.
Today, we have the privilege and responsibility of carrying this idea into the next generation.
With the establishment of the non-profit organisation Dialogue Impact, the intellectual property and rights behind Dialogue have moved into a non-profit structure. This gives us a new foundation to protect the mission and quality of Dialogue while strengthening the organisations that create impact locally every day.
In 2025, 488,476 people participated in Dialogue experiences and programmes worldwide. At least 614 employees and freelancers contributed to this work, around 64% of them people with disabilities.
Behind these numbers are hundreds of thousands of encounters and local organisations that understand their communities. This local knowledge is one of Dialogue’s greatest strengths.
The role of the international organisation is not to replace that expertise, but to support it: by connecting knowledge across countries, strengthening quality and visibility, opening doors to partnerships and funding, and helping good ideas travel.
For me, a strong international network is not an end in itself. It has value when it makes the people and organisations within it stronger.
Our ambition is not growth for the sake of growth. It is stronger local organisations, meaningful employment, greater access, more encounters and social impact that can last.
The future of Dialogue cannot be built by one organisation alone. It has to be built together with the people who know Dialogue, live Dialogue and make it relevant in their communities.
That is our responsibility for the next generation and the future I hope we will continue to build together.
Svenja Weber
CEO, Dialogue Impact gGmbH
Our vision: A society where everyone belongs.
Our mission: We create experiences that enable social change.
Dialogue brings together people who might otherwise rarely meet, especially people with and without disabilities and people of different generations.
In playful, immersive situations, lived experience becomes expertise. By changing familiar roles, Dialogue invites people to question prejudice, recognise capabilities and move from distance towards encounter. Participants discover their ability to relate and act, while guides take visible, responsible roles.
Our experiences and inclusive employment foster empathy, empowerment, and inclusion.
OUR PURPOSE
Why We Do
What We Do
Inclusive Employment
Human
Connection
New
Perspectives
Curiosity
& Reflection
OUR APPROACH
Experience. Reflect. Grow.
Dialogue uses experiential learning to challenge familiar thinking and help people carry insights into everyday life. Three stages shape exhibitions, workshops and adapted programmes.
STAGE 1
Experience
Participants enter an unfamiliar, facilitated and playful situation. Darkness, silence or encounters with ageing create a role reversal in which lived experience becomes expertise. Play removes the pressure to know the right response: everyone participates and discovers through curiosity, trust and communication.
STAGE 2
Reflect
The experience can open a dialogue with oneself, the group and the guide. Participants question assumptions, stereotypes and familiar patterns of thinking about others and themselves. In workshops, facilitated discussion and structured debriefing can deepen reflection.
STAGE 3
Grow
Insights can strengthen confidence and agency, influencing relationships, decisions and actions in private life, school, work and community. Wider change also depends on other people, structures and context.
OUR IMPACT LOGIC
Output. Outcome. Impact.
Our impact logic distinguishes what Dialogue delivers, the changes associated with the experience and the wider change people and partners may support.
01
Output
Exhibitions, workshops, events and accessible services; inclusive employment; trained guides and facilitators; partnerships; and encounters.
02
Outcome
For participants, evaluated outcomes include greater empathy; reduced prejudice, stereotypes and reservations about encounters; awareness of barriers and capabilities; and changed perspectives on disability, ageing and human potential.
For guides and employees with disabilities, Dialogue can strengthen empowerment, confidence, professional development and employability by recognising lived experience as expertise and creating visible, responsible roles with ownership.
03
Impact
Impact can emerge when people use changed awareness and agency to act differently. Their actions can challenge stereotypes, reduce barriers and make inclusion tangible.
Dialogue also works with NGOs, schools, companies, foundations and public institutions to help turn learning into organisational or systemic change. Lasting social change depends on many actors; Dialogue contributes but does not create it alone.
WHAT WE DO
Core Experiences
Dialogue creates immersive experiences that bring people together across differences. In 2025, the three core formats reached 488,476 visitors and participants worldwide through exhibitions, workshops, dining experiences, and other branded activities.
488,476
VISITORS & PARTICIPANTS IN 2025
5,763 fewer than 2024, a difference of 1.2 %.
Reach remained broadly stable despite changes in network composition and reporting coverage.
In 2025, nearly 4 out of 5 participants of Dialogue experiences visited Dialogue in the Dark®.
77.2 %
Dialogue in the Dark®
11.9 %
Dialogue with Time®
10.9 %
Dialogue in Silence®
Dialogue
in the Dark
Guides with visual disabilities lead participants through complete darkness, where trust, communication, and non-visual perception become essential.
23
Venues
19
Operators
18
Countries & territories
377,247
Total visitors
120,191
Educational visitors
Dialogue
in Silence
Guides with hearing disabilities invite participants to communicate through gesture, facial expression, and body language in a sound-reduced environment.
3
Venues
3
Operators
3
Countries & territories
53,182
Total visitors
11,591
Educational visitors
Dialogue
with Time
Guides aged 70 and above facilitate experiences and conversations about ageing, participation, and intergenerational understanding.
3
Venues
3
Operators
3
Countries & territories
58,047
Total visitors
28,634
Educational visitors
Among locations reporting visitor mix, 43% of exhibition visitors were school and university groups; those locations represented 79% of exhibition visitors. Thirteen of 24 locations offered dedicated educational activities before or after the experience. An estimated 160,416 students and educators participated, approximately one third of total reach.
FACTS AND FIGURES
We Create Impact
A global snapshot of Dialogue's reach, workforce, and participation in 2025.
24
Dialogue locations
18
Countries & territories
614+
Employees & freelancers
391
≈ 64 %
Workforce with disabilities
488,476
Visitors & participants
≈12 M.
Cumulative reach since 2000
160,416
≈ 33 %
Students & educators
100 %
67 %
Employment within six months / immediately for colleagues with visual disabilities leaving DiD
OUR LOCATIONS
A Worldwide Network
We created a worldwide community of Dialogue,
bringing immersive experiences to 24 locations
across 18 countries and territories.
INCLUSIVE EMPLOYMENT AND EMPLOYABILITY
Creating Opportunities. Strengthening Careers.
BREAKDOWN OF WORKFORCE
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308
with visual disabilities
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70
with hearing disabilities
13
with other disabilities
54
aged 70
or older
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EMPLOYABILITY OUTCOMES
100 %
All 21 colleagues with visual disabilities who left DiD secured another job within six months.
14 67 %
immediately (within days / weeks)
7 33 %
within six months
STORIES OF IMPACT
Global Stories
These are selected examples of how Dialogue creates impact across different places, programmes, and communities.
Different places.
Real people.
A more inclusive world.
From Fear to Possibility
After an advanced cancer diagnosis, a former elementary school teacher became afraid to travel far from the hospital. A visit to Dialogue in the Dark Dongtan offered a different perspective on living through uncertainty. On the way home, the visitor's daughter wrote that the visitor spoke about focusing on what could still be done and experienced - and even imagined visiting Rome. Their later journey is unknown, but the daughter said the experience gave the visitor courage and renewed the family's sense of possibility.
Dialogue in the Dark
Dongtan, South Korea
This experience gave my mother courage.
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Arriving in a World Without Labels
Born with a visual impairment, Anna Tritschoks faced years of low expectations, exclusion and discrimination before joining Dialoghaus Hamburg. Anna completed retraining as an office management assistant and now contributes in visitor services, finance and as a Dialogue in the Dark guide. At Dialoghaus, Anna found a safe environment where strengths could develop without fear of judgement. Anna now values the perspective Anna brings and helps others look beyond labels.
Dialogue in the Dark
Hamburg, Germany
I'm allowed to make mistakes and just be human.
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More Than Offering a Job
When Navidullah Aziz applied to become an Exhibition Guide in June 2024, an official classification restricted work to three hours a day. Moving towards full-time employment required approximately five months of coordination with public authorities. Dialogmuseum remained committed: HR manager Svenja Lind and director Maureen Ekizoglu supported communication with the authorities, while colleagues used simple language. Today, Navidullah reports a sense of belonging, improved German and clearer self-expression.
Dialogue in the Dark
Frankfurt, Germany
I'm very happy that I finally have a job.
Learning Through Silence
Following a Dialogue in Silence tour with a voluntary social year seminar group, one participant described the experience as a creative way to encounter another perspective. The participant connected communication beyond spoken language with empathy and the possibility of change. No longer-term follow-up is available, so the testimony is presented as immediate reflection and perceived learning rather than lasting behavioural change.
Dialogue in Silence
Hamburg, Germany
It was a great experience!
A very creative way to help people see things from a different perspective.
Beyond Eye Care:
Supporting Mobility and Inclusion
Through Vision for All - Sea Beyond Sight, Dialogue in the Dark Egypt and Somabay combined eye-health services with disability awareness and mobility support. Across two medical convoys and three surgical convoys, 1,743 people received ophthalmology examinations and 201 surgical procedures were completed. The initiative also distributed more than 1,785 medication units, provided 822 corrective eyeglasses and supplied 191 white canes together with mobility orientation and usage guidance. Awareness sessions, practical training and personal accounts from guides with visual disabilities helped families and caregivers develop a more informed understanding of visual impairment, while collaboration among healthcare, civil-society and private-sector organisations created a coordinated model of support.
Community Health
Safaga / Hurghada, Cairo, Egypt
Skills That Travel Beyond Dialogue
Ee Beng Tan developed communication, public speaking, self-presentation, digital literacy, teamwork, leadership and agility while working as a Dialogue in the Dark guide and facilitator in Kuala Lumpur. After leaving Dialogue, Ee Beng joined Genashtim Pte. Ltd. as a Business Development Executive and was later selected to lead a new ESG division. After contributing to the ESG Business Institute, Ee Beng stepped down from that role following a leadership transition and continues as Director of B Market Builder Southeast Asia. The journey demonstrates how skills strengthened through Dialogue can travel into new roles, sectors and areas of responsibility.
Dialogue in the Dark
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
From Experience
to Shared Action
Dialogue in the Dark Korea and a business-network partner strengthened their collaboration around a marathon for people with visual disabilities. Employees from participating companies first attended Dialogue workshops and later contributed as guide walkers. Approximately 3,000 people with and without visual disabilities joined the public event. The sequence shows how experiential learning can contribute to participation and partnership beyond the exhibition.
Community Partnership
Seoul, South Korea
Lived Experience Driving
Digital Accessibility
N-VISIONS extended its inclusion expertise into professional digital-accessibility services. Its five-person consulting team includes four professionals with visual disabilities, whose lived experience informs testing, client advice and developer training. The team supports organisations in identifying barriers across websites, applications, kiosks and digital services. The work treats accessibility not simply as compliance, but as practical usability.
Accessibility Services
Seoul, South Korea
From a Workshop to an
Ongoing Inclusion Effort
Aditya Birla Group introduced Dialogue in the Dark at its Gyanodaya academy in 2024 as part of disability-inclusion learning. The Group returned in 2025 and expanded participation across companies including UltraTech Cement, Hindalco Industries and Grasim Industries. More than 900 employees and leaders participated across the two years. Repeat participation does not demonstrate lasting workplace change, but it shows how an initial sensitisation workshop developed into a continued organisational effort.
Dialogue in the Dark Workshops
Mumbai, India
Finding New Ways
to Be Understood
In December 2025, Dialogue in Silence facilitators brought a non-verbal Showcase to a community-based third place for children in Nasushiobara. Twenty-five children and adults participated in activities using eye contact, gesture, facial expression and body language rather than spoken words. Facilitators observed participants move from cautious gestures to active, whole-body communication, checking whether others understood and ensuring that no one was left behind. The kickoff also led to a collaboration agreement between Apple Base and Dialogue Japan Society to continue creating accessible opportunities for connection in the region.
Dialogue in Silence Showcase
Nasushiobara, Japan
It made me really happy when I realised I could understand what the other person was thinking.
10-year-old participant
From Receiving Support
to Giving It
Through Hong Kong’s Hope Ambassadors programme, 19 people with visual disabilities supported older people through visits, telephone calls, counselling and community activities. Over two years, the programme reports approximately 10,000 calls, more than 300 counselling hours, visits with 800 older people and a further 1,000 people reached through carnivals. During one visit, an older participant who was losing vision said that difficulty with household tasks had reduced the participant’s sense of contribution. Hope Ambassador Lily shared personal experience of raising children and caring for a family member as a person without sight, and then demonstrated how to use a washing machine. The encounter shifted the usual support roles: lived experience became practical knowledge that could strengthen another person’s confidence and independence.
Hope Ambassadors Programme
Hong Kong
Living Memories Across Generations
In 2025, Dialogue with Time guide Izumi Harada and a fellow guide shared firsthand memories of war during two special public sessions commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Twenty-two participants encountered history through the voices of people who had lived it rather than through written records alone. The sessions showed how older Dialogue guides can contribute not only expertise in ageing, but also living memory and intergenerational reflection on peace.
Dialogue with Time
Tokyo, Japan
Hearing the facts of war and peace through living words was a profound and shocking experience. It brought home to me just how vital it is that we keep passing these stories down.
Mauri Takaizumi
EXCEPTIONAL TEAM MEMBERS
The People Behind the Impact
This section highlights colleagues and teams whose lived experiences, leadership, dedication, and professional growth helped shape Dialogue's work across the different locations.
Hyeong-seop Kim
Seoul, South Korea
From Dialogue in the Dark guide to digital-accessibility specialist; professional development through lived-experience expertise.
Sherman
Hong Kong
Fifteen years of guiding, team leadership, peer support and programme development.
Donald
Hong Kong
Long-serving administrative colleague whose first full-time role began at Dialogue in 2016 and continued through adapted employment.
Joan Hung
Singapore
Guide and facilitator; adaptability, communication and situational-awareness skills; supported through flexible scheduling.
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Hiroe Ohashi
Tokyo, Japan / DiS
Dialogue in Silence guide with a professional contribution to Deaflympics ceremonies.
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Izumi Harada
Tokyo, Japan / DwT
Shared firsthand wartime memories and facilitated intergenerational reflection.
A Fellow DwT Guide
Tokyo, Japan / DwT
Contributed firsthand wartime memories.
DiD Monterrey Team
Monterrey, Mexico
Adaptability, practical problem-solving, cost-conscious delivery and humour as team cohesion.
Natalya Zaykina
Moscow, Russia
Leading Manager; supports diverse groups in understanding the lives and capabilities of people with visual disabilities.
Igor Konishev
Moscow, Russia
Deputy Team Leader; organises and delivers business workshops and supports client relationships.
Fatma
Cairo, Egypt
Professional development and participation in external events during 2025.
Anantha Narayanan
Mumbai, India
Chief Marketing Officer; expands Dialogue in the Dark’s presence through strategic partnerships and new client and business relationships.
ANNIVERSARIES AND NETWORK MILESTONES
Milestones That Shaped Our Network
Key anniversaries and turning points that shaped Dialogue's network in 2025.
HAMBURG
25 Years of Dialogue,
Experimentation and Growth
In 2025, Dialoghaus Hamburg marked 25 years since the opening of its permanent Dialogue in the Dark venue in the Speicherstadt. Over that quarter-century, Hamburg developed into a central hub for the evolution of Dialogue methodology and a place where many formats shaping today’s network were presented, tested and refined. The anniversary celebrates continuity, experimentation, guide and facilitator development, international know-how transfer and exchange across the network.
SEOUL
15 Years of Careful Design
and Lasting Quality
In 2025, Dialogue in the Dark Korea celebrated 15 years since establishing its permanent experience in Seoul. Building on earlier temporary exhibitions, Younghee Song, Director Jeonghwa Jo and their team developed a lasting operation with a distinctive approach to quality, design and visitor experience. Care is reflected throughout the participant journey, from sensory details and guide preparation to the way groups are accompanied. Over time, the organisation expanded through a second location in Dongtan, digital-accessibility services, employment initiatives and community partnerships.
MILAN
20 Years Where History
Inspires Innovation
In December 2025, Dialogue in the Dark Milan marked 20 years at the Istituto dei Ciechi di Milano. Over two decades, the experience became an important part of the Institute’s contemporary identity, connecting its longstanding commitment to blind and visually impaired people with public engagement, culture and experiential learning.
MOSCOW & INTEGRATSIA
5 Years
of a Shared Inclusion Mission
On 12 October 2025, Dialogue in the Dark Moscow and the State Museum, Cultural Center “Integratsia” named after N. A. Ostrovsky marked five years of partnership. Since the collaboration began in 2020, the Moscow team has delivered approximately 120 workshops at the institution. Through encounters led by professionals with visual disabilities, participants experience inclusion through communication, trust, role reversal and lived experience. The milestone recognises the sustained collaboration and the people who brought the shared mission to life.
HONG KONG
15 Years of Dialogue,
Innovation and Inclusive Opportunity
In 2025, Dialogue in the Dark Hong Kong celebrated 15 years of creating encounters, employment opportunities and new approaches to inclusion. The organisation developed from experiences in darkness into a diversified platform encompassing Dialogue in Silence, education, youth development, services involving older people, career empowerment, digital accessibility, AI and cross-sector partnerships. The anniversary gala on 20 February brought together approximately 400 guests and presented 40 awards recognising inclusion and diversity commitments and inclusive-employment efforts. It also strengthened partner relationships later used to connect trainees with job-shadowing, internship and employment opportunities. Hong Kong’s sustained reach and diversification make it an important role model within the network. Final copy to be proofread by Iris.
TAIWA NO MORI
5 Years as a
Home for Three Dialogues
Five years after opening in August 2020, the Dialogue Diversity Museum Taiwa no Mori in Tokyo stands as one of the few places in the network’s history to bring Dialogue in the Dark, Dialogue in Silence and Dialogue with Time together under one roof. Keep this venue anniversary distinct from the 25 years of Dialogue Japan celebrated in the 2024 report
CHINA
15 Years of Local Reinvention
In 2025, Dialogue in the Dark marked 15 years since its development began in China. Starting in Shanghai in 2010, the journey expanded through different cities, venues and operating models. Founder Shiyin Cai’s vision and perseverance were central to this development. Across changing environments, teams continued creating professional opportunities for guides and trainers with visual disabilities while locally interpreting Chinese culture, everyday life, sound, place and storytelling.
INSTITUTIONAL TRANSITION
A Difficult Transition, a Renewed Commitment
In 2025, Dialogue Social Enterprise GmbH entered insolvency proceedings. Under Svenja Weber’s leadership, Dialogue Impact gGmbH assumed ownership of the intellectual property of Dialogue in the Dark, Dialogue in Silence and Dialogue with Time, together with responsibility for international licensing relationships. The new structure brought Dialoghaus Hamburg and international franchising within one organisation. Laura Gorni provided essential support in maintaining network communication while agreements were reviewed. The transition highlighted the importance of financially sustainable structures, reliable governance, transparent communication and consistent partner support.
AWARDS, CERTIFICATIONS & EXTERNAL RECOGNITION
Recognition Across the Network
Across locations, Dialogue organizations received awards, certifications, and public recognition for inclusion, sustainability, education, and visitor experience.
HONG KONG
Diversity & Inclusion Award
Digital Accessibility Silver
Top 5 Happy SMEs
Social Sustainability
Cross-sector Collaboration Gold
HAMBURG
DEI Corporate Excellence Award
Haspa Sustainability Award
Annemarie Dose Prize
Tripadvisor Traveler's Choice
TAIPEI
Sustainable Education Action Evaluation Recognition
TOKYO
Best of Atre
SEOUL
Prime Minister's Commendation to Hyeong-seop Kim
SINGAPORE
SkillsFuture Course
Approval
WHAT'S NEXT
Looking Ahead
Where the network is growing next and how stronger partnerships, better evidence, and shared ambition can expand Dialogue's impact.
Strategic
Outlook
Dialogue Impact will strengthen international licensing, partner services, exchange, and evidence collection. A confirmed 2026 exhibition in São Paulo will use Italian migration to Brazil as its narrative framework, connecting migration, identity, adaptation, resilience, and acquired disability. Work is also progressing towards a new Dialogue hub in Berlin, with a potential opening in late 2026 or 2027.
Network
Development
A larger and more connected network can strengthen visibility, collective evidence, collaboration, social impact, and financial resilience. Every partner is a network ambassador. Potential operators should be referred to
international@dialogue-impact.com or jose.macias@dialogue-impact.com.
Measurement Improvements
Shorter surveys; clearer definitions and denominators; distinction between zero activity and missing data; regular collection of quotations, consent, photographs, and evidence; stronger follow-up after experiences.
Every encounter can open a door: to a partership, a new location, new employment opportunities and thousands of future encounters.
Growing the Dialogue network means growing our collective impact, visibility, and resilience.
PARTNER WITH US
Join Us in Creating Change
There are many ways to support Dialogue's inclusive work arount the world, from direct support and shared expertise to new partnerships and new locations.
AMBASSADOR NOTE
Every Dialogue partner is an ambassador for the global network. If a person or organisation is interested in bringing Dialogue to a new city or country, please connect them with Dialogue Impact, the official international licensor.