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The right to be different without being disabled | Sabriye Tenberken | TEDxYouth@Maastricht

4,114 views · Published 18 April 2016 · 20:37 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: TEDx Talks · 2016 · Nonprofits & Activism

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Approaching blindness and disabilities under an innovative and unique angle, Sabriye changes our preconceived ideas. She wishes to remove this prejudice and is the living example that in its own way, success is always possible and that out in the world many more will make this change happen. Going on from this ideology she looks at imperfection as the mother of invention so that we can all strive to change. However, unlike many, she doesn’t see the change to be coming from someone else, she believes strongly in the change to be coming from within.

Sabriye Tenberken became blind at the age of 12. As a student she specializes in Central Aisian Sciences and modern and classical Tibetan in combination with sociology and philosophy.This proved to be a typical challenge since no blind student had ever before ventured to enroll in Tibetology, she could not fall back on the experiences of anyone else – and had to develop her own methods in order to follow her course. Out of this need, Sabriye developed the Tibetan Braille Script. In 1997 she travelled to Tibet to learn more about the circumstances of blind children. In 1998 she co-founded the first school for the blind and Braille Without Borders (in addition to co-founding Kanthari, a international institute for social changemakers). Sabriye will share her experiences of crossing borders and how she turned a disability into advantage.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

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