Being blind without being disabled

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By CGTN's Xiao Xiaowai

“Hi, I’m blind, but I can do what you can do.” This is the belief that 30-year-old Kyila wants to pass to her students.

Some parents in Tibet don’t believe that their blind children can take care of themselves. They opt to make them sit in one place or tie them to a bed, in a bid to minimize risks of kids hurting themselves.

Kyila is singing with Tesring. /CGTN Photo

Tsering came to Kyila’s Kindergarten when he was just two years old. Before he came, he was sometimes fasten in bed by his parents, when they were out for fieldwork.

During school holidays he had to stay in the kindergarten, because no family members came to pick him up. Tsering’s mother married another man and his father never appeared again. So he called his teacher Kyila “mother” during holidays.

Tesring learnt a lot in the kindergarten with the help of Kyila, besides being independent in daily life, he could also speak three languages: Tibetan, English and Mandarin.

Six years ago, Kyila was 23 years old, and she established Tibet’s first non-profit kindergarten for kids with visual impairment.

Kyila’s hometown Lhasa. /CGTN Photo

Education revealed a new world to Kyila. She’d gotten the chance to learn English in Braille Without Borders (BWB) in Lhasa, thanks to Sabriye Tenberken from Germany, who is also blind and founded BWB, first blind school in Lhasa.

Kyila was singing with teacher Sabriye Tenberken in Braille Without Borders when she was 12. /CGTN Photo

Kyila said she found that she was a slow learner as she began to study braille too late, so she believes that early stage education is very keen for kids, which is one of the most important reasons for her to establish a kindergarten for the blind kids.

Kyila is trying to persuade a mother to send her kid to the kindergarten. /CGTN Photo

The kids in Kyila's kindergarten need not pay for anything. Kyila’s Kindergarten depends on the donation from warm-hearted people, and has also received the support of the China Disabled Persons' Federation (CDPF) with an annual fund of 30,000 Yuan (around 4,470 US dollars).

Kyila led her student Langjie Quzhen to school from home. /CGTN Photo

The CDPF is now about to merge BWB with Kyila's Kindergarten and all the teachers would be set to work in government-run special schools, while the students would also study there. The story of Kyila and her kindergarten opens up a path for blind people in Tibet, the beginning of a larger change.

2565km