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The Story of My Life by Helen Keller Essay

Decent Essays

The Story of My Life

by Helen Keller

Inspiration

The potency and inspiration of the less-than fortunate never ceases to amaze me. Against physical conditions that would enslave even the strongest of women, Helen Keller challenged her multiple disabilities and became an educated young women in spite of them. Blind and deaf at two, Helen Keller's story of bravery and fortitude and her remarkable relationship with her beloved teacher Ann Sullivan, is a delicate lesson in the ability of the extraordinary few to triumph over adversity.

As a young girl, Keller was powerless to express herself. Until at the age of 7, an event happened that she declares, "the most important day I remember in all my life." The event she describes is …show more content…

I was able to formulate a time line using the textbook and had Helen been born fifty years earlier then she was, she wouldn't have benefited from the revolutionary techniques that taught her reading (several languages), writing, and eventually to speak. The Braille Literary code, the same code Helen so rigorously manipulated in her literary explorations, was only fully perfected in 1834. Perkins School for the Blind, erected in 1832, was highly acclaimed for its accomplishment in Helen Keller's instance specifically. It was one of the first of such institutions in the United States. Some of the earliest schools modeled their educational programs after public schools. But as the textbook points out in both the visually and hearing disabled chapters, education of the blind or deaf is highly specialized to their specific needs.

In 1890 Keller learned to speak after only one month of study. Ten years later, she was able to enter Radcliffe College, from which she graduated with honors in 1904. A remarkable deed considering that only twenty-four years prior to her graduation she had absolutely no outlet for communication.

I feel it my duty to point out that without "a" Anne Sullivan in Helen's life many of her accomplishments wouldn't have been possible. Only a loving, caring soul, such as Anne Sullivan could have fostered the astounding growth and perseverance in her finest pupil. The valuable lesson to be gained in

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