Biography of Helen Keller

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Even though Helen Keller died at the age of 87, blind and deaf, she had been an educator. Helen loved and cared for education, and wanted other blind and/ or deaf people to have a chance at one too. Knowing what it was like to be blind and deaf she wanted to help others who were blind and deaf. Most people believe that Helen Keller was born blind and deaf, but she wasn’t. It altered Helen’s life at only 19 months! She had fallen ill, most likely scarlet fever, and never fully recovered, for she had lost almost all of her sight and could no longer hear. A little girl born able to see the beautiful world, yet got it taken from her. She was a hassle to keep up with after that. Since Helen could no longer hear what her parents were saying or see where they were doing or what they were motioning at, she did anything she wanted until she was grabbed. When Helen turned six, in 1886, her mother took her to a specialist doctor in Baltimore, Maryland, who then referred her to Alexander Graham Bell. Alexander gave Helen a teacher named Anne Sullivan. Later in august of 1896 Helen lost her father and 25 years later, Kate Keller, her mother, died from an anonymous illness.
As a child, Helen was difficult, since you couldn’t get her attention without grabbing her, and even then you couldn’t tell her anything. She later quoted, “Once I knew only darkness and stillness. My life was without past or future. But a little word from the fingers of another fell into my hand that clutched at emptiness, and my heart leaped to the rapture of living"(Khurana). Helen’s courage is unbelievable. It's overwhelming that even though she couldn’t hear, she couldn’t see, she moved, acted, and did her best to make her mark, to show the world that she...

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...Anne Macy. The Story of My Life, by Helen Keller: With Her Letters (1887-1901) and a Supplementary Account of Her Education, including Passages from the Reports and Letters of Her Teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1914. Print.
Khurana, Simran. "Helen Keller Quotes." About.com Quotations. About.com, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2014.
Wellman, Victoria. "Helen Keller's Forbidden Love: New Book Inspired by the Author's Clandestine Engagement Tells of Thwarted Romance and Broken Hearts." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 08 May 2012. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.
Sultan, Rosie. Helen Keller in Love. New York: Viking, 2012. Print.

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