The Life Of Helen Keller

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 became an "ambassador for the blind," raising money and lobbying for the sightless. From her first trip to Japan in 1937 until her retirement, she made nine tours around the world and visited 34 countries.” Everywhere she went Helen inspired people with her incredible story and her campaigns for the better treatment of the blind. Keller once said, “‘A person who is severely impaired never knows his hidden sources of strength until he is treated like a normal human being and encouraged to shape his own life.’” The speeches she gave helped people to understand how to treat those with disabilities. It helped them to realize that they are just normal human beings. Keller’s tours around the world greatly improved the lives of people 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.

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.

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.

This is precisely why I’m writing to you” (189). Kleege moves on to her main point on why she is writing to Keller and what she wants the readers to learn. She wants to tell Keller and the remaining audience that she’s angry about the world being inaccessible to her because of her blindness. Even more, she’s unable to complain about it because of people’s judgemental views in comparing her and Keller. People would indeed say something similar to “why can’t you be more like Helen Keller, especially since you’re really nowhere near as bad off as she was.

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 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.

Generally, a deaf person can rely on his eyes to learn the body language, and a blind person can rely on hearing to learn how to speak. But Helen was both deaf and blind, which made it extremely hard to learn sign language. However, she finally learned sign language with her teacher Anne Sullivan and her own effort. It was a miracle for anybody who heard about this message. Because of her unremitting spirit and refusal to accept the destiny, she had the courage to face the challenges in her life and gained the great achievements.

Throughout her life, she never gave up with what was handed to her. She persevered through all her trials! She was courageous. Despite being deaf & blind; she went on to become the first deaf-blind person to graduate with a bachelor’s degree from Radcliffe College, not only that but she was also the first deaf-blind person to ever attend college.

Helen Keller struggled for most of her early years to communicate with other people. At

Helen Keller said, “Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything good in the world.” (“Helen Keller Quotes”). As individuals it is known that everything in life happens for a reason, and those who can rise above challenges can accomplish anything they set out to do. When Helen Keller stated, “self-pity is our worst enemy,” she knew exactly what her destiny was in life and rose above her disability to make an impact on the world.

Personally, I consider Erik Weihenmayer and Helen Keller as “Eyes for the Blind”. My reasoning for referring to them as this is because although they were both blind, nothing stopped them from achieving their goal. As mentioned before, if Keller were still alive today, she would not consider Weihenmayer as a “pessimist”. According to Dictionary.com, a pessimist is described as “a person who habitually sees or anticipates the worst or is disposed to be gloomy.” In other words, a pessimist is one who always tries to find the bad in any situation.

Born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, at only nineteen months old, the diagnosis for a sick Helen was Scarlet Fever. Due to this, she had lost the ability to hear, see and speak which had a huge impact in her life (History.comStaff). As she grew older and wanted to learn, her parents had applied for a teacher for the blind. Anne Mansfied Sullivan had been her teacher for not only school, but also to help her find a way through life and learn how to communicate (History.comStaff). Eventually, with the help of Sullivan, Helen Keller was able to effectively graduate cum laude from a school for the blind in 1904 (History.comStaff). Although she had lost the majority of her main senses, Keller still had the ability to live as normal as possible with many