Though born normal Helen Keller lost both her sight and hearing at the age of 18 months due to illness. Though she faced many obstacles early in life she overcame them with the help of a teacher named Ann Sullivan and devoted herself to work for the good of the disabled especially sight and hearing impaired people.
Helen Keller was born on June 27, 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama, USA. Her father, Arthur Keller worked for a newspaper and her mother was a housewife. As an infant little Helen was a healthy and happy baby but tragedy struck when Helen was 18 months.
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| Helen Keller |
She developed high fever and a headache which lasted for several days. When the fever and headache went away her parents were horrified to learn that baby Helen had lost both her sight and hearing.
Then followed dark and difficult days for Helen. She tried to communicate with people using special movements. For instance, she had special movements to tell her mother or father she needed them.
However, it was difficult to communicate this way and Helen got frustrated and angry when others could not understand her. She threw tantrums and kicked or bit people in anger.
Special help
Her parents saw that Helen needed special help and they contacted the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston, USA. The Director of the Institute suggested that a former student Ann Sullivan may be able to help Helen. Annie herself had suffered from blindness but had got her sight back after surgery. Ann Sullivan (also called Annie sometimes) came to help Helen Keller and wrought a miracle in her life. It was on March 3, 1887 that Ann Sullivan came to help Helen Keller.
This was the beginning of a special and fruitful relationship of 50 years.
Ann Sullivan started her work with Helen by teaching her words. She would press the correct letters for a word into Helen’s hand. For instance, if she wanted to teach Helen the word doll she would place a doll in Helen’s hand and press the letters d-o-l-l into Helen’s other hand.
Helen would press the words back into Ann’s hand. Ann taught Helen many words in this manner. However, this was not easy as Helen still did not really understand that the hand words or sign had meaning.
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| Helen as a yong girl |
Breakthrough
Finally, Ann achieved the breakthrough she needed for Helen to fully understand the hand words or signs. On this day, Ann opened a pump and held Helen’s hand under the water. She also pressed the word water into Helen’s other hand. With this Helen finally understood what Ann was doing. Helen started learning many new words on that day itself.
Now, Helen’s horizons widened and soon Ann was able to teach her to read. Helen soon mastered the Braille System and read many books. (The Braille System uses little bumps on the page to form letters and was invented by a Frenchman, Louie Braille.)
At the age of 10 years Helen Keller could read and use a typewriter. Now, she was eager to learn to talk and Sarah Fuller, a teacher for the hearing impaired taught her how to talk using special methods meant for those handicapped with hearing disabilities. Helen was really happy when she could say words.
Radcliffe College
When she was sixteen years old Helen went to Radcliffe College, Boston, Massachusetts.
Anne Sullivan went with her and helped to sign the lectures into Helen’s hands. Helen Keller graduated from Radcliffe College in 1904 with honours. While still at Radcliffe Helen started writing about her experiences as a vision and hearing impaired person They first appeared in a magazine called Ladies’ Home Journal. They were later published as a book-The story of my life. She joined the ‘American Federation for the Blind and travelled around the USA lecturing and fund raising.
During World War to she visited wounded soldiers and encouraged and inspired them not to give up hope. She did much for the handicapped especially the visually and hearing impaired and helped raise much funding for those with disabilities.
Helen Keller died in Easton, Connecticut, USA on June 1, 1968 aged 87 years.
Compilation: Nira Diaz
Sources: Wikipedia, Ducksters
