Gültekin Yazgan Creates Libraries for People with Visual Impairments

On 22 November 2009 Sabancı Foundation's "Turkey's Changemakers" program hosts Gültekin Yazgan, who became visually impaired due to an accident he had in Grade 5. Nevertheless, he never gave up on life and decided to learn English and the Braille alphabet.

In 1952, he graduated from Ankara University with a degree in Law and started his working career as a lawyer and teacher. Meanwhile, he co-founded the Six Dots Association for the blind and became actively involved in social responsibility projects.

After retiring from teaching in 1981 and from practicing law in 1992, he dedicated all his efforts to translating books and working on social responsibility projects. He founded the Library for the Blind of Turkey which enabled many visually impaired young people to attend university and to find employment.

In his latest book called "The Blind Flight", he wrote about legal and social regulations regarding visually impaired persons. Furthermore, he touched on their living and working conditions and social relationships. His book raised a great deal of awareness about this important issue by reaching thousands of readers.

Gültekin Yazgan unfortunately passed away on January 29, 2012, after having enlightened the lives of many visually impaired persons and inspired everybody with a fighting spirit.

For more information: www.6nokta.org.tr