Braille Without Borders
Encyclopedia
Braille Without Borders is an international organisation for the blind
in developing countries
. It was founded in Lhasa
, Tibet
by Sabriye Tenberken
and Paul Kronenberg in 1998.
to the blind in developing countries; if no Braille script exists for a particular language in a developing country BWB must first develop it.
Formerly known as the Project for the Blind, Tibet in September 2002 the project adopted the name Braille Without Borders.
mountaineer Erik Weihenmayer
. The prize-winning documentary Blindsight
about this expedition was released worldwide to cinemas in 2006.
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
in developing countries
Developing country
A developing country, also known as a less-developed country, is a nation with a low level of material well-being. Since no single definition of the term developing country is recognized internationally, the levels of development may vary widely within so-called developing countries...
. It was founded in Lhasa
Lhasa
Lhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...
, Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
by Sabriye Tenberken
Sabriye Tenberken
Sabriye Tenberken is a German socialworker and co-founder of the organisation Braille Without Borders.- Biography :Sabriye was born near Bonn, Germany, and she became gradually visually impaired and completely blind by the age of thirteen due to retinal disease. She studied Central Asian Studies...
and Paul Kronenberg in 1998.
Overview
BWB's mission is to give hope and practical skills to the blind and in particular to teach BrailleBraille
The Braille system is a method that is widely used by blind people to read and write, and was the first digital form of writing.Braille was devised in 1825 by Louis Braille, a blind Frenchman. Each Braille character, or cell, is made up of six dot positions, arranged in a rectangle containing two...
to the blind in developing countries; if no Braille script exists for a particular language in a developing country BWB must first develop it.
Formerly known as the Project for the Blind, Tibet in September 2002 the project adopted the name Braille Without Borders.
Tibet T.A.R
- School for the blind: The first centre, a school for blind Tibetan children, was established in LhasaLhasaLhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...
in 1997.
- Massage centre: A clinical massage centre run and operated by the blind in Lhasa.
- Vocational Training Farm: A second centre, a farm and cheese factory, for the vocational training of adults has been established at Pelshong 270km west of LhasaLhasaLhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...
near ShigatseShigatseShigatse is a county-level city and the second largest city in Tibet Autonomous Region , People's Republic of China, with a population of 92000, about southwest of Lhasa and northwest of Gyantse...
.
India
- IISE: The International Institute for Social EntrepreneursInternational Institute for Social EntrepreneursThe International Institute for Social Entrepreneurs in Trivandrum is a non-profit institute training people in social entrepreneurship in Kerala, India which operates under the umbrella of Braille without Borders Charitable Trust .- Background :...
(IISE) began in January 2009. This school runs a year long course to train both sighted and non-sighted people to establish and run their own social projects. The IISE is located at KalliyoorKalliyoorKalliyoor is a village in Thiruvananthapuram district in the state of Kerala, India.-Demographics: India census, Kalliyoor had a population of 36836 with 18176 males and 18660 females....
on the VellayaniVellayani-Location:Vellayani can be reached easily from Thiruvananthapuram Central Bus Station at Thampanoor and from City Bus Depot at East Fort. It is well connected by state road transport and private buses. Nearest airport is Thiruvananthapuram International Airport.-Tourism:Vellayani is on the banks...
lakeside about 10km from Trivandrum, the capital of KeralaKeralaor Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
Achievements and events
In 2004, Paul and Sabriye and a team of their blind students from Lhasa embarked upon the Climbing Blind expedition in Tibet under the leadership of blind EverestMount Everest
Mount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at above sea level. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. The international boundary runs across the precise summit point...
mountaineer Erik Weihenmayer
Erik Weihenmayer
Erik Weihenmayer is the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on May 25, 2001. He also completed the Seven Summits in September 2002. His story was covered in a Time article in June 2001 titled Blind to Failure...
. The prize-winning documentary Blindsight
Blindsight (2006 film)
Blindsight is a 2006 documentary film directed by Lucy Walker and produced by Sybil Robson Orr for Robson Entertainment. It premiered at 2006 Toronto International Film Festival in the category Real to Reel....
about this expedition was released worldwide to cinemas in 2006.
Literature
- Tenberken S. (2003) Path Leads To Tibet, Arcade Publishing. ISBN 1-55970-658-9
- Tenberken S. (late 2006 or early 2007) The Seventh Year - From Tibet to India
Films/Talk Shows
- 2000 Documentary film titled Mit anderen Augen (With Other Eyes) about the Braille Without Borders project. (This won Sabriye the 2000 Charity Bambi Award)
- 2005-08-15 Sabriye and Paul were guests on a talk show for CCTV 9 in BeijingBeijingBeijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture... - 2005-10-17 Sabriye was a guest on The Oprah Winfrey ShowThe Oprah Winfrey ShowThe Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
titled 8 Women Oprah Wants You to Know, segment Phenomenal Females: Sabriye Tenberken's Journey - 2006 release of the documentary film BlindsightBlindsight (2006 film)Blindsight is a 2006 documentary film directed by Lucy Walker and produced by Sybil Robson Orr for Robson Entertainment. It premiered at 2006 Toronto International Film Festival in the category Real to Reel....
about the climbing project in the HimalayasHimalayasThe Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
with Erik WeihenmayerErik WeihenmayerErik Weihenmayer is the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on May 25, 2001. He also completed the Seven Summits in September 2002. His story was covered in a Time article in June 2001 titled Blind to Failure...
and students from the School for the Blind in Lhasa.
External links
- Braille Without Borders Official Website
- Braille Without Borders International School for Development and Project planning (ISDeP)
- http://www.blindsightthemovie.com