Helen Keller

Helen Keller as a young girl. (www.go.ednet.ns.ca/ lawrencetown/keller.htm)

Helen Keller was born June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Her parents were Captain Arthur Henley Keller and Kate Adams Keller. Helen was born a healthy baby, with full sight and hearing. When Helen was 19 months old, she became sick and was expected to die. Doctors have never been completely sure what she became ill with. Eventually, she recovered, but her mother noticed something was wrong. Helen would no longer respond when the dinner bell was rung, or when her mother passed a hand in front of her face. Helen Keller had been left deaf and blind. She became very difficult at home, throwing tantrums and smashing dishes. By the time she was six years old, her family was becoming desperate. They contacted Alexander Graham Bell, who was a teacher of deaf children at the time. He suggested they get into touch with the director of the Perkins Institution, Michael Anagnos, and request a teacher for Helen. Anagnos recommended Anne Sullivan, a woman who had lost most of her sight as a child. She accepted willingly, and began teaching Helen immediately.

Helen never gave up during her life. Her bravery was a large part of her, shown by her determination to learn. She became the first deaf and blind person to have ever enrolled at an institution of higher learning. Helen also gave lectures later on, with the help of Anne Sullivan. Helen's vocal chords had not been trained to speak, so only people very close to her could understand the sounds she made. Anne could understand her, so she would translate what Helen said, sentence by sentence, to the audience. A few years later, They toured with a small vaudeville show, which showed Helen's first understanding of the word "water." Although most people could not understand her speech, she was brave and still performed.

Even though life was hard for Helen, she was determined and kept working hard. She graduated from Radcliffe College and became the first deaf and blind person to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree on June 28, 1904. As well as successes, there were also many disappointments and tragedies in Helen's life. Failures at writing books and making TV shows and movies, and the death of her mother were hard on Helen. She kept trying, though, and finally succeeded. She published a book called "Teacher", written about Anne Sullivan in 1955, seven years after the first manuscript was destroyed in a fire.

Helen Keller was like every other human being on Earth—imperfect. To some people, she was more imperfect than others because of her physical disabilities. The fact that she couldn't see or hear, yet still continued through life and didn't stop because of it, is what made her so amazing. She had failures in her life, but she learned from them, and created something better.

Helen Keller later in life. (www.aph.org/hall_fame/ keller_bio.html)

Throughout her life, Helen showed bravery, determination, and imperfectness through her learning, writing, lectures, performances, family tragedies, successes and failures. She never gave up just because it was hard. She kept going and showed us that if you want to do something, you don't let anything hold you back.