Helen Adams Keller

Helen Keller when she was younger (http://www.educationalsynthesis.org/famamer/Keller.html)

Imagine your life being deaf and blind? Would you have the courage and patience to still want to learn how to read and write? Or would you rather not try and give up, saying there is no hope? Helen Keller has given hope to many blind and deaf people; she has proven to everyone that having these disabilities doesn't end your way of living.

Helen Keller born June 27th 1880, became ill at the age of nineteen months which caused her disability: being deaf and blind for the rest her life. Wondering how she got through her life without using 2 senses that most of us get to use everyday? She didn't do it all on her own. Her family didn't know what to do when Helen grew to have a big temper. They didn't know how to control her. It had gotten bad enough that relatives allegedly compared her to a monster. They went to see a doctor who had said to have gone to an expert, Alexander Graham Bell, about it. He had suggested to go to an institute to find Helen a teacher, and so they did just that.

Anne Sullivan was to be her teacher. Anne had lost most of her eyesight when she was younger and had a rough childhood. She had trouble finding herself a job, and when she was offered the position to help Helen, even though she wasn't professional in this domain, she accepted. After meeting Helen and starting to teach her, she decided they would move into a cottage together. Helen's behavior had improved, along with her manners. Anne showed Helen how to finger spell, but Helen didn't know the meaning of these words. Until one day a miracle had happened: after having water put on her hand and Anne spelling it out on her other hand, Helen had known the meaning of this word. Helen later learned how to understand what people were saying by touching their mouths and throats. Helen also started to be able to speak, but only the people that were close to her would understand what she was trying to say .

Helen Keller was accused of plagiarism in 1891 for a short story she wrote. They said it was from a story she had read when she was younger; she didn't remember reading it though. This confused Helen; she had no idea if what she was thinking were her own thoughts. After this obstacle in her life she ended up getting into Radcliffe College. She was the first blind/deaf person to get a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Helen began to write her own stories, calling her first "The World I Live In." She and Anne started doing lectures around the world for a living. They had made good profit out of this . A movie was made on Helen's life which was called "Deliverance," but this movie was not very succesful. This didn't stop them from their tours , which they would raise money for the blind. As the years passed, Helen lost some loved ones, including Anne. Polly, their secretary, became Helen's new assistant and they too traveled for fund-raising for many years. In 1953 a documentary of Helen was released and won an Academy Award. Two years later, Helen's book, "Teacher," written about Anne, was published. Three years later, Polly passed away also.

In 1957 a television play was made which was later rewritten and turned into a Broadway play in 1959. Because it was such a great success, it was made into a movie in 1962. Unfortunately Helen had suffered a series of strokes in 1961 which lead her to have to retire from her public appearances. Four years before Helen passed away she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon Johnson. This award is the nation's highest civilian award given. A year later she was elected to the Women's Wall of Fame in the New York World's Fair. On June 1st 1968, Helen died in her sleep and was later cremated. Today people go to a chapel to touch a braille plaque saying: "Helen Keller and her beloved companion, Anne Sullivan Macy, are interred in the columbarium behind this chapel." Helen's dream was to be able to speak; she did not get to completely accomplish this dream but with the technology enhancing so quickly every year, today she could [possibly] accomplished this dream.

Helen Keller may not be a hero who has helped me, personally, in some way, but I think she's a hero to many other people with the same disability. She has, in a way , taught others that you can still learn with disabilities. Even though I don't have any of her disabilities I still think of the people who do and I am glad there was someone who could give courage to all the others with her same disability. Anyone who doesn't have a disability should think twice about giving up, and instead think of all the people who have much more difficulty learning because they are blind or deaf. These are the reasons why I think Helen Keller is a hero.