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Introduction

One of the most remarkable heroines of the 20th century was a woman who was blind, deaf and mute, yet due to her own wonderful tenacity and steady and earnest encouraging guidance of her teacher Anne Sullivan, Helen Keller educated America and the world about how to not label the blind as people who should be pitied. In fact by the time that she was seven, when she received assistance from Anne Sullivan, Helen had already shown her abilities to create words using sign language, with the help of an in house cook’s child.

Anne Sullivan Encourages Helen Keller’s Gifts

Anne Sullivan, a recent graduate of Boston’s Perkin’s Institute for The Blind, was a determined teacher who appreciated and valued Helen’s gifted ability to learn. Helen, actually learned 30 words by the end of the day from Anne, who patiently first taught Helen the word water by spelling it out in her hand. As the years progressed, Helen even learned how to speak basic words by the age of ten and, with great persistence learned several languages, including German, French and Latin in Braille.

Overcoming Educational Challenges

Helen Keller was committed to learning to speak well, and pursue advanced education. She went after it by first attending Wright-Humason School for the Deaf in New York City, and then moved on to a women’s preparatory school in Cambridge, Mass., called the Cambridge School for Young Ladies. Due to Helen Keller’s academic achievement, and with the help of noted author, Mark Twain, Helen was admitted to Radcliff College. While a student at Radcliff, Keller completed her first book, “The Story of My Life”, and the graduated at the age of 24 years old, cum laude.

Accomplishments

Helen Keller’s voice and her ability to communicate grew tremendously throughout the first half of the 20th century. She worked tirelessly on behalf of those who had physical sight challenges as well as others who lived with disabilities. In addition she advocated for women’s suffrage, helped create Helen Keller International and found the ACLU. Keller received many awards and honors including the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal in 1936, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

Families Can Assist Sight Challenged Members

One of the truly inspiring messages about the life and times of Helen Keller is how her parents never gave up on her as well as how she was able to turn a possible debilitating life sentence into a way to educate and inspire others who have disabilities. Families should work with sight and hearing challenged members by learning Braille, and sign language. Locate online literature and academic audio books. In addition, there are a number of websites that provide literally hundreds of free downloadable EBooks for the blind and sight impaired. Lastly, be encouraging and supportive, because you never know if there might be another potential world leader living in your midst.

Reference:

Biography: Helen Keller: http://www.biography.com/people/helen-keller-9361967

American Federation For the Blind: Helen Keller Biography: http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=1&TopicID=129