Helen Keller Overcoming Deafness and Blindness to Inspire the World

by Abigail Gezae, age 12

Helen Keller became blind and deaf at the young age of 19 months due to an illness. She was born on a small farm in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Arthur Keller was Helen’s father, and his young second wife, Kate Adams, was her mother.

At six months of age, Helen was advanced in her learning and was beginning to speak. Helen was doing very well until she became sick with a mysterious illness, which the doctors thought was German measles. Today, doctors believe Helen’s childhood illness was likely scarlet fever or meningitis. This illness caused Helen to lose her sense of sight and hearing. Over time, Helen forgot her memories of sight and sound, growing used to silence and darkness. Her family developed a way to communicate with her, and Helen created more than 50 signs to express her feelings and frustrations, which were growing.

At the age of seven, Helen was sent to the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston, Massachusetts, where she met a young teacher named Anne Mansfield Sullivan. Anne was later sent to work with Helen at her home. Helen’s initial frustrations and attitudes made her a difficult student, but Anne was persistent. After setting some boundaries, they were able to work together. Anne began teaching Helen the names of objects by spelling them out. Anne would write letters on Helen’s palm to connect these patterns with the objects they described. When Anne spelled the word “water,” Helen experienced a breakthrough, recalling her early memories of language, which helped her develop her communication skills.

Later, Helen studied subjects like math, geography, and biology. By 1893, she was reading English, French, German, Greek, and Latin in braille. Helen also enrolled at the Cambridge School for Young Ladies, and later, at Radcliffe College, where she became the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. During her time at Radcliffe, she began writing and published works such as The Story of My Life and The World I Live In. She also became an advocate for people with disabilities like hers, leading fundraising efforts and holding lectures across the country to raise awareness for the deaf-blind and disabled communities.

After 1961, Helen spent most of her time at home with her family and friends at Arcan Ridge, Connecticut. In 1964, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Lyndon B. Johnson, and in 1965, she was inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame. Helen died on June 1, 1968, at Arcan Ridge, just before her 88th birthday. Her achievements are still widely known and celebrated today.

[Source: Women Who Changed The World]