Helen Keller Contributions

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.

Helen Keller was born on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. When she was a small child, Helen was struck with a terrible brain fever. She could hardly sleep, she tossed and turned, hot and hurting. The doctor could offer a little help or hope, but she was one and a half years old, and the doctor did not expect her to live through the fever. Finally her fever let up, and her mother was grateful that she survived. As the author says, “ No one, not even the doctors, knew yet what the fever had done to Helen.” (Garrett 10).

Anne took her out to a well and put Helen’s hands under running water, spelling out the word in sign language into her little hand. From that point on Helen was taught the words for everything and how to sign them herself. She became educated and attended lectures with Anne signing the words into her hand. Keller was a fast learner and, “at the end of their first year together Sullivan was spelling into Keller's nine-year-old hand the works of Homer, Shakespeare, and the Bible.” She eventually graduated a prestigious college with

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.

“While with hearing people, she was expected to adapt to their behaviors and to their ways of talking. She realized that their view of her as handicapped could not be overcome; it was too deeply rooted in their culture” (Padden 154). In quote Tom Humphries is talking about Carol Padden in a very influential time of her life. Being a part of a subculture like the deaf community must be enriching but also have interesting effects on how people within the subculture see “normal” individuals. Deaf people can be seen throughout history, the best historical information found was in The Deaf Community in America: History in the Making, written by Melvia M. Nomeland and Ronald E. Nomeland. They provide many details about the history of deaf individuals like, “The first mention of a deaf person, Chushim, is noted in the Torah” (Nomeland 6). The Torah is the religious text of the Jewish people, and was written around 1312 B.C. Education for deaf people took over 3,000 years for there to be public education for the Deaf. “The London Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, another school, was opened at Kent Road in 1792 to accept deaf children from poor families” (Nomeland 17).

Helen Keller was the first deaf and blind person to earn a college degree. She graduated from Radcliffe College, with honors, in 1904.

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 was born with the ability to see and hear. At 19 months she had an illness that the doctors thought was Scarlet Fever, this resulted in Helen becoming deaf and blind. Five years later, her parents had hired a teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan. Keller learned to understand and communicate to the world around her. Helen Keller stood up against

Helen's achievements were achieved only through her obstacles that she went through while learning. Helen Keller got a teacher, Annie Sullivan, who taught her many things. Annie, Helen's teacher, came to Tuscumbia on March 3, 1887 (Feeny). After six months of working together, Helen had learned the manual alphabet, could read brittle and raised type, and was writing letters (Feeny). Within six months Helen learned many things from Annie and they continue to work together throughout their lifetimes. Helen went to college and became a writer. She went to Radcliffe college because Harvard did not accept women. She was the first deaf-blind person who went through college (Feeny). Annie Sullivan was always by her side except when she took the tests (Feeny). Helen Keller finished college with the help of Annie. Helen was accused of plagiarism. She was accused because she wrote a book just like a book that was read to her three years prior (Feeny). After that, sometimes people often wondered if she was just restating things that she heard over the years (Feeny). At 11 years old Helen Keller was accused of plagiarism because she wrote a similar story that was read to before. Even though Helen Keller had many amazing accomplishments, she also had many obstacles she had to overcome in order to accomplish

Helen went to other schools and got help and she knew what many things were and she wrote books and essays. Helen attended the Cambridge School for Young Ladies in 1896. It was a prep school. During this time she met Mark Twain and became friends with him. Mark Twain introduced Helen to Henry H. Rogers, an executive at Standard Oil. He was so impressed by Helen that he agreed to pay for her education at Radcliffe College. Helen attended these schools to get help and to help other people out also. Helen was a inspiration and impressed many people throughout her life. Helen Keller was a founding member of the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind. This was the first agency to provide services to the blind. Helen was a member of Massachusetts it was the first blind agency. Helen made many accomplishments in her life. She helped many people and that only happen because her mom Kate got the help she

Introduction This world is filled with people having a variety of roles in the daily life, while some are heroes who have significant influence over the world. Heroes are always regarded as models full of power, wisdom and strength, people look up to them and waiting for them to guide their way of life. The influence can be long lasting to several generations. But what makes a hero?

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

She wrote many articles about socialism, an essay series “Out of the Dark” touched upon her political and world views (“Helen Keller Biography”). This was all done during a time when woman really were not given the credit they were due. I believe this became instrumental to her involvement in the founding or co-founding of many organizations that were extremely important during this early time period and are still in existence today. These organizations were the American Civil Liberties Union, American Federation for the Blind, and the Permanent Blind War Relief Fund or what was later known as American Braille Press.

Helen Keller continued to encourage people through her speeches and appearances, while giving numerous people inspiration. One of her great appearances was when she spoke out before Congress about improving the welfare of blind people. She was extremely brave to speak up to millions of people even though she had poorer communication skills compared to an average person. Even though she struggled severely to build up her social skills with the help of her educator, Anne Sullivan, she had the courage to share her progress with the whole world. Helen Keller had also wanted to make sure that the disadvantaged would get the help they needed showing her devotion towards helping people that are in her same