Helen Keller

Anne Sullivan gets Helen a doll and spells it out (http://jaimeburque.com/blog/el-milagro-de-ana-sullivan/ )

Helen Adams Keller was born on the day of June 27, 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama. She was the oldest in two daughters, born to Arthur H. Keller and Katherine Adams Keller. She was born a healthy baby but in 1882 she struck an illness called "brain fever". This led to loss of her sight and hearing. Early on she developed a different way of communicating with the daughter of the family cook, Martha Washington. By the time Helen was 7 years old, she had uncontrollable, nasty tantrums and behavior. Keller's mother saw a story of another educated blind and deaf child and went to Baltimore, Maryland to see a specialist. The specialist recommended they go see Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the telephone and also helped deaf children at the time. He recommended them to the Perkins Institute for the Blind. The director recommended her to Anne Sullivan, and that is how the two met. Little did they know, ahead of them was a 49 year relationship of ups and down, and of accomplishment. At first they were at Keller's home but shortly after she became frustrated and irritable. She could not understand the words being spelled in her hand and the objects. She could not put two and two together, so with Keller distracted and not going along, they moved. Keller and Sullivan lived together in a small cottage on a plantation. This way Keller could only focus on Sullivan's instructions. That was the place of Keller's first connection. There, Sullivan spelled out the word W-A-T-E-R, and then put her hands under a faucet, then Keller spelled back W-A-T-E-R. They kept this up and before you knew it Keller learned 30 new words. Keller went to two other schools for the deaf trying to learn to speak and communicate. At this point, Keller was determined to go to college, so she attended the Cambridge school for young ladies. That was where she met several important people, including Henry H. Rogers who was amazed by Keller's drive and ambition. That was what influenced him to pay for her attendance at Radcliffe college. Anne Sullivan helped to translate the lectures and textbooks and other things. Anne Sullivan married, but Anne gave Keller more attention so the two split for many years but did not divorce.

Helen Keller graduates from Radcliffe Collage (http://jaimeburque.com/blog/el-milagro-de-ana-sull ())

Helen Keller was a hero because through her disabilities, her struggles and her pain, she remained determined. She also stood up for what she believed in and what is wrong. Helen Keller paved a permanent path of hope for the disabled. She stood up for women's suffrage and Pacifism. She never gave up and drove all the way through her problems. Imagine living in a black, silent world. This was Helen Keller's whole life, but yet she was able to see the world, and see it positively too. She looked for the good in things, not the bad. She is special because she never gave up or saw things negatively. Through the blindness, through the deafness, through the frustration and hate. She emerged, thinking positively and helping others. She made a difference in the disabled community that will stay there forever. She proved that they are not stupid, they are not worthless, they are not weak or frail. She proved that anyone can make a change, anyone can help others. Imagine all the disabled children that would have been looked down upon if it were not for her example.

I chose Helen Keller as my hero because she has always inspired me. When life throws rocks in my path, I carve another way, and when I fall down, I get back up. Helen Keller's ambition, love, and peace drove me to this hero. I chose her because she is amazing, overcoming obstacles she pushed through and not only thought of life positively, but made a change in others lives. She changed others who hurt or have rocks in their paths. She helped everyone by setting an example of someone who took life by the hands and made it. She is an example of how to get over your problems and do more that that, to help. She also had a direct influence on all the people she helped. All the face to face meet ups or the disabled children who knew they could do it because she did. She saved lives of the people who hung their head thinking they can't do it. She set the scene for kids all over the world. She is a great role-model, because she went to college and she never gave up her dreams. Helen Keller once said that, "Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it", and that is exactly what she did.