Helen Keller: An Idol to Deaf People?

Helen Keller has taught the entire nation that it is possible to overcome obstacles and obtain goals. At the age of nineteen months, she was stricken by an illness called “brain fever”, that left her blind and deaf. It is evident that Keller lived a strenuous life, but along the way she managed to establish the American Civil Liberties Union and received many honors in recognition of her accomplishments. The fact that a blind and deaf woman accomplished so many achievements over the course of her lifetime and is known as one of the most memorable women alive, simply amazes me. Although our lives do not necessarily alline, I hope to be as successful as Helen Keller was and overcome any obstacles that come my way.

Do you think you could live being blind and deaf? Well, Helen Keller managed to live her very interesting life with those two problems. At the age of 2, she had a brain fever, and it caused her to go blind, deaf, and mute. She changed an impact on everyone who had disorders like her and let them know that they had a chance at the things that were difficult for them. Helen’s life as a child was confusing and even more difficult for her because she was just learning how to live with her disabilities.

If most people heard the name Helen Keller, they would think of that poor girl who was deaf and blind. They would think of her and remember the stories they heard about how she was taught how to communicate by a teacher named Anne Sullivan. That is probably all they would think about her. How she was world famous because of how she learned to read through Braille, letters pressed into her hand, and how she eventually learned to speak, however, this is not all there is to Helen Keller.

Helen Keller was a social activist throughout the late 1800s and much of the 1900s for the deaf and blind. She went blind and deaf at a young age from a disease but learned how to communicate with the world. She went to Horace Mann School for the Deaf, Wright-Humason School for the Deaf, and Cambridge School for Young Ladies for college. On June 23, 1953, Keller gave a speech at the National University of Mexico to promote rights for the blind specifically. Helen Keller effectively convinces her audience blind people need equal rights through the use of repetition and emotional appeals.

People who are blind face many different problems in accomplishing everyday activities and becoming an independent individual. Some are able to overcome this issue while others struggle through it in their lives. In “Helen Keller’s Address before the New York Association for the Blind, January 15, 1907” she makes an appeal to the audience that the blind should be helped and made independent so that they can stand up and support themselves. She uses pathos or emotionally packed words, examples and anecdotes and cites from a prominent source to convince her audience that the blind are not helpless, but they are in need of guidance from people who can see in order to live and thrive independently.

"Helen Adams Keller." Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988.U.S. History in Context. Web. 16 Dec. 2015.

America’s First Lady of Courage and Picturing History both presented individuals who faced many challenges. Helen Keller, the main focus of the first article, struggled with deafness as well as blindness, while Mathew Brady struggled financially. In the case of Helen Keller, the article stated that, “Helen’s parents knew they had to do something about her wild behavior. They hired Annie Sullivan to tutor her.” This was a critical moment in Helen’s life, as Annie helped Helen to learn how to more appropriately communicate with others as well as be able to spread the word that those who struggle with various disabilities could still manage to do great things.

Like I said before, many characters were scared of Helen. Others didn’t fully understand the difficulties of being in Helen’s shoes. Because they could see and hear, everything seemed normal to them. They could see Helen do the actions, so they thought things weren’t as hard as they actually were. Everybody probably was taught how to behave around Helen, but most of the time they probably didn’t listen.

Helen Keller was the first deaf and blind woman to achieve so many goals in her life despite her disabilities. Keller was considered to be a leading figure of the 20th century. She is best known for all her accomplishments. Keller was the most powerful blind and deaf advocate of her time. She transformed the way others viewed handicapped people. In Helen Keller’s later years, she attended Radcliffe College (perkins.org).

Helen Keller was a deaf and blind author, lecturer, and political activist from the United States. Her teacher, Anne Sullivan, taught her how to communicate and eventually Keller became the first deaf and blind person to receive a Bachelor of Arts. She wrote many books and advocated for labor rights, socialism, woman’s suffrage, antimilitarism, and many other controversial topics.

Helen Keller stood up for people with disabilities by traveling around the world and giving them a voice. Later, she went to talk to the government about making more books for the blind. Eventually, the government listened to her and made more books. Helen Keller became blind, deaf, and wasn't able to speak. After college, she had decided to be a lecturer and a writer even though Anne, witch is Helen's instructor, and the others said she would be a good teacher and pass on what Anne taught her. This article will discuss information about Helen Keller and information about the problems she stood up against. The second paragraph will discuss things that she did to take a stand. The third paragraph will discuss how things changed for the better because of the hard work that Helen Keller did and how the world looks different thanks to what she did.

Helen became deaf and blind at 19 months old in February 1882. Helen went to many different schools to get the help she needed. Helen did many things and always believed she could achieved her goals. "Duty bids us go forth into active life. Let us go cheerfully, hopefully, and earnestly, and set ourselves to find our especial part. When we have found it, willingly and faithfully perform it; for every obstacle we overcome, every success we achieve tends to bring man closer to God." Helen believed that God helped her through her illness. "Among the great teachers of all time she occupies a commanding and conspicuous place. . . . The touch of her hand did more than illuminate the pathway of a clouded mind; it literally emancipated a soul." Once she got her hand on something she knew what it could be. Helen believed God helped her get throughout her life.

After a long search for teachers with the ability to help Keller, her parents found Anna Sullivan:“Sullivan went to Keller's home in Alabama...She began by teaching six year-old Helen finger spelling, starting with the word "doll,"...When Keller did cooperate, Sullivan could tell that she wasn't making the connection between the objects and the letters spelled”(“Helen”). When Sullivan first arrived she tried to teach Keller her first method of fluent communication, but not understanding what Sullivan tried teaching to her made the situation frustrating for both of them. Sullivan created a revolutionary new path in education, because no teacher had ever tried to educate a blind and deaf individual. Sullivan and Keller moved to a cottage on the plantation, so Keller could concentrate on learning: “Sullivan moved the lever to flush cool water over Keller's hand, she spelled out the word w-a-t-e-r on Helen's other hand”(“Helen”). Learning the word water through Sullivan’s exquisite guidance was the start to Keller’s extraordinary life, and the incredible relationship between teacher and student. Sullivan’s brilliant teaching methods allowed Keller to grow and become an incredible epic hero.

From a young age Helen Keller wanted to defeat the odds of being a hero and being deaf

Imagine being confined to a windowless, pitch-black room. No doors for light to seep in; no spatial clues at all except a thump in the face once you reach the other side of the room. On top of that, there’s no sound. There’s nothing there to make sound, but there is a vague understanding that other warm-bodied creatures are in the room, too. This must have been what Helen Adams Keller’s life as a blind and deaf person was like. However, none of it stopped her from becoming one of the most celebrated persons with disabilities the world has ever known.