2
THE STORY OF MY LIFE
Helen Keller is remembered as an advocate for people with disabilities. She was the first deaf and blind person to write a biography, The Story of my Life, which she wrote at the age of 22. The memoirs covered Keller’s transformation from a child to a 21-year-old college student. Most importantly, she was the first deaf and blind person to earn a college degree, at the age of 24. She graduated from Radcliffe College and also wrote 12 books and several articles.
Per the website Biography.com, which captures the most gripping, surprising, and fascinating stories about famous people, Keller was born with her senses of sight and hearing and started speaking when she was just six months old. She started walking at the age of one.
Keller lost both her sight and hearing at just 19 months old. In 1882, she contracted an illness—called "brain fever” by the family doctor—that produced a high body temperature. The true nature of the illness remains a mystery today, though some experts believe it might have been scarlet fever or meningitis.
Within a few days after the fever broke, Keller’s mother noticed that her daughter didn’t show any reaction when the dinner bell was rung, or when a hand was waved in front of her face.
During this time, Keller had also become very wild and unruly. She would kick and scream when angry, and giggle uncontrollably when happy. So extreme case of Keller that many family relatives felt she should be institutionalized until Anne Sullivan came into her life as her teacher for 49 years, from 1887 until Sullivan’s death in 1936.
On March 3, 1887, Sullivan went to Keller’s home in Alabama, and immediately she began by teaching six-year-old Keller finger spelling, starting with the word "doll,” to help Keller understand the gift of a doll she had brought along. Other words would follow.
At first, Keller was curious, then defiant, refusing to cooperate with Sullivan’s instruction. When Keller did cooperate, Sullivan could tell that she wasn’t making the connection between the objects and the letters spelled out in her hand. Sullivan kept working at it, forcing Keller to go through the regimen.
As Keller’s frustration grew, the tantrums increased. Finally, Sullivan demanded that she and Keller be isolated from the rest of the family for a time, so that Keller could concentrate only on Sullivan’s instruction. They moved to a cottage on the plantation.
In a dramatic struggle, Sullivan taught Keller the word "water”; she helped her make the connection between the object and the letters by taking Keller out to the water pump, and placing Keller’s hand under the spout. While Sullivan moved the lever to flush cool water over Keller’s hand, she spelled out the word w-a-t-e-r on Keller’s other hand. Keller understood and repeated the word in Sullivan’s hand. She then pounded the ground, demanding to know its "letter name.” Sullivan followed her, spelling out the word into her hand. Keller moved to other objects with Sullivan in tow. By nightfall, she had learned 30 words.
SOCIAL ACTIVISM
Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Keller tackled social and political issues, including women’s suffrage, pacifism, birth control, and socialism.
After college, Keller set out to learn more about the world and how she could help improve the lives of others. News of her story spread beyond Massachusetts and New England. Keller became a well-known celebrity and lecturer by sharing her experiences with audiences, and working on behalf of others living with disabilities. She testified before Congress, strongly advocating to improve the welfare of blind people.
In 1915, along with renowned city planner George Kessler, she co-founded Helen Keller International to combat the causes and consequences of blindness and malnutrition. In 1920, she helped found the American Civil Liberties Union.
When the American Federation for the Blind was established in 1921, Keller had an effective national outlet for her efforts. She became a member in 1924, and participated in many campaigns to raise awareness, money and support for the blind. She also joined other organizations dedicated to helping those less fortunate, including the Permanent Blind War Relief Fund (later called the American Braille Press).
Soon after she graduated from college, Keller became a member of the Socialist Party, most likely due in part to her friendship with John Macy. Between 1909 and 1921, she wrote several articles about socialism and supported Eugene Debs, a Socialist Party presidential candidate. Her series of essays on socialism, entitled "Out of the Dark,” described her views on socialism and world affairs.
It was during this time that Keller first experienced public prejudice about her disabilities. For most of her life, the press had been overwhelmingly supportive of her, praising her courage and intelligence. But after she expressed her socialist views, some criticized her by calling attention to her disabilities. One newspaper, the Brooklyn Eagle, wrote that her "mistakes sprung out of the manifest limitations of her development.”
In 1946, Keller was appointed counselor of international relations for the American Foundation of Overseas Blind. Between 1946 and 1957, she travelled to 35 countries on five continents.
In 1955, at age 75, Keller embarked on the longest and most grueling trip of her life: a 40,000-mile, five-month trek across Asia. Through her many speeches and appearances, she brought inspiration and encouragement to millions of people.
During her lifetime, she received many honors in recognition of her accomplishments, including the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal in 1936, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964, and election to the Women’s Hall of Fame in 1965.
Keller also received honorary doctoral degrees from Temple University and Harvard University and from the universities of Glasgow, Scotland; Berlin, Germany; Delhi, India; and Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. She was named an Honorary Fellow of the Educational Institute of Scotland.
Keller learned to communicate through lip-reading, fingerspelling, Braille and using a typewriter.