Helen Keller (1880-1968)

'For many generations, more than we can count, we bowed our heads and submitted to blindness and beggary. This blind and deaf woman lifts her head high and teaches us to win our way by work and laughter. She brings light and hope to the heart'. ^{-Japanese Woman}

Birth:	July 27, 1880 in Tusumbia, Alabama
Parents:	Captain Arthur H. Keller and Kate Adams Keller
Education:	Cambridge School for Young Ladies, Radcliffe College
Honors and Awards:	Presidential Medal of Freedom Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor in 1952 Order of the Southern Cross (Brazil) Order of the Sacred Treasure (Japan) Order of the Golden Heart (Philippines) Gold Medal of Merit (Lebanon) Americas Award for Inter-American Unity National Humanitarian Award from Variety Clubs International
Death:	June 2, 1968

The reason I chose Helen Keller was because I had heard so much about her in school. I had heard about how she was blind and deaf and how she learned to communicate with others when it was said supposedly impossible. This really interested me and I wanted to find out more about her.

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At the age of 18 months, Helen Adams Keller acquired an illness which made her blind and deaf. Doctors couldn't help her and believed that she wouldn't ever be able to communicate with the outside world.

At the age of six, her mother asked the Perkins Institute for the Blind to send a teacher for Helen. Soon after, in March of 1887, Anne Sullivan arrived. It took Anne a month to teach Helen the word “water”. Anne would spell names of objects to Helen through sign language. She would place her fingers in Helen’s hand and spell out letters. Helen could eventually tell what she was spelling by the feel of her hands.

After this, she started learning very quickly. In two years, she had learned how to read and write Braille, which is what was used by blind people. She eventually learned to speak by feeling the vibrations on Anne’s neck when she spoke. Helen would put her fingers on her own throat, trying to make the same vibrations. It was a miracle that she actually learned to speak by this method.

Helen spent the rest of her life trying to help other blind and deaf people. She wrote many books to help others understand her condition.

I have learned from this report more about Helen Keller than I had known before. It was a miracle that she learned to do all the things she did, even though she was isolated from the outside world.

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Bibliography:

American Foundation for the Blind, Helen Keller Papers - Death, http://www.afb.org/info_documents.asp?kitid=50&collectionid=1, © 2001

Author not available, KELLER, HELEN (1880-1968). , Young Students Learning Library, 01-01-1996.

Byers, Paula K, Encyclopedia of World Biographies, © 1998 Gale Research

Grace Products Corporation, “In Search of Heroes”: Tragedy to Triumph--Helen Keller, http://www.graceproducts.com/keller/life.html, 4-2-01

Helen Keller International, Helen Keller, http://www.hki.org/helen.html, © 2000

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By: Sarah S.

Date Created: April 3, 2001