Helen Keller is a name associated with success in overcoming the many challenges faced by the deaf and blind. Born in 1880 in Alabama, USA, it was Keller who first made people realise that a disability should not be a barrier to achievement and fullness of life.
When an illness at the age of 19 months left Helen bereft of sight and hearing and with communication all but lost to her, she struggled in fear and frustration to connect with the world around her. Anne Sullivan, a teacher from the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston, was engaged by Helen's parents to teach their seven-year old daughter at home and it proved the beginning of an impressive and lasting transformation. The famous eureka moment in Helen's awareness is poignantly featured in the many films made about her, when Anne fingerspelt the word 'water' into Helen's palm while holding the other under the spout. At that moment, Helen realised that words were labels for 'things'. With the bit between her teeth, Helen was determined to achieve what seeing and hearing people took for granted and she went on to learn to speak, to read braille and to write - and even discovered she could enjoy music by feeling the vibrations of the beat.
The Story of My Life is Helen Keller's heart-warming and inspiring memoir of her early life.
Keller, Helen Adams: - "Helen Adams Keller was born in West Tuscumbia, Alabama, the elder daughter of Arthur Henley Keller and Kate Adams Keller. When but a toddler at 19 months of age, she fell ill with what could have been scarlet fever or meningitis and shortly after, lost her sight and hearing. The impact this had on a child barely two years old is difficult to imagine as communication was all but lost to her. At seven years of age, with the help of Anne Sullivan, the teacher from the Perkins Institute for the Blind who was to transform her life, Helen learnt to communicate with those around her. Anne Sullivan, herself visually impaired, opened up the world to Helen, first by fingerspelling words into her hand, then by teaching her to lip read by placing one hand lightly over the speaker's lips. Helen went on to learn to speak, to read braille and to interpret sign language with her hands - and even discovered she could enjoy music by feeling the rhythmic vibrations of the beat. From her early isolating years of silence and darkness, Helen Keller emerged as a world-famous speaker and author of twelve published books and several articles. She was the first deaf-blind person to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree and was subsequently awarded many honorary degrees. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson conferred on her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the USA's highest civilian honours. A stalwart campaigner for women's suffrage, birth control, socialism, labour rights and pacifism, she also promoted and helped establish institutions for the deaf and blind. The first (silent) film made about her in 1919 was called Deliverance and this was followed by many other movies and television serials. Keller was well travelled, both within the USA and around the world, meeting US presidents, other national leaders, famous actors and writers and people involved in the work she championed. The inventor and scientist, Alexander Graham Bell, whose work in acoustics and elocution underpinned his endeavours with the deaf, was a lifelong friend and co-advocate. The Story of My Life is dedicated to him. Helen Keller's autobiography chronicles her life from a child to a young woman of twenty-two years."
