Helen Keller Research Paper

Do you like to help the deaf and blind? “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.” This is how Helen Keller described the beginning of her “new life,” when despite blindness and deafness she learned to communicate with others Helen Keller is important because she wrote books to people who can hear and see to tell them what it is like when she was deaf and blind.

(1880-1986) Helen Adams Keller was born June 27, 1880, in Tusumbia, Ala. When she 19 months old, she got a severe illness that left her blind and deaf. Her parents had hope for her, they had read

Charles Dickens’ report of the aid given to another blind and deaf girl, Laura Bridgman. When Helen was 6 years old, her parents took her to dee Alexander Graham Bell, famed teacher of the deaf and inventor of the telephone. As a result of his advice, Anne Mansfield Sullivan began to teach Helen on March 3,1887. Until her death in October 20, 1936 do you know her exact death?, she remained Helen’s teacher and constant companion. Sullivan had been almost blind in early life, but her sight has been partially restored.

At the age of 20, she was able to enter Massachusetts Commission for the Blind and served on the commission. She raised more money for the American Foundation for the Blind than any other person. She lectured widely and received honors and awards from foreign governments and international bodies. At her home in Easton, Conn., she wrote and worked for the blind and deaf. She died at her home on June 1, 1968. Keller’s writing reveals her interest in the beauty of things for granted by those who can see and hear. Her books include The Story Of My Life published in 1903; Optimism (1903); The World I Live In (1908); Out of the Dark(1913); Midstream: My Later Life (1929);‘Journal (1938); and Let Us Have Faith (1940).

What would the world be like if Helen Keller hadn’t or didn’t live? The world would have trouble to help the blind and deaf because they couldn’t see or hear. But when Helen learned the finger-tip, or manual, alphabet as well as braille People in the future can use that for the people the are deaf and blind. The deaf and blind people couldn’t be able to get help from teachers. They wouldn’t be able to attend schools for the deaf and blind. The deaf and blind wouldn’t think to put their fingers on the lips and throat of her teachers and to felt their motions and learned to “hear” them speak.

How did Helen Keller's accomplishments change the world?First, before anyone had ever heard of Helen Keller, people that were blind, deaf or handicapped in some other physical way were treated very harshly. They were sometimes an embarrassment to their families, and were often sent off to be cared for away from the rest of the family. No one ever cared if they could learn and be productive people. However, thanks to the example of Helen Keller and her victory over deafness and blindness, we know that everyone has something positive to contribute to the world around them—if they are given the chance.

Secondly, Helen Keller was a major fundraiser for the American Foundation for the Blind. Through these fundraising efforts, AFB continues to assist blind people in the areas of technology, education, independent living, literacy, and employment.
Helen Keller also campaigned to make braille the standard system of reading and writing for people with vision loss. Earlier, four other systems were being used. This caused confusion and made it tough for people who were blind to communicate with each other. Thanks to Helen's work, braille became the standard system around the world in 1932.

Helen Keller pushed the United States government for more assistance to the blind. In 1935, President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act, which offered unemployment insurance, retirement funds, and assistance for children to the disabled. Thanks to Helen Keller's hard work, blind people were included in the category of "disabled," which meant they could apply for financial help.

As Helen Keller traveled the world, she changed the lives of millions of people with visual impairments.

She brought them courage and hope. Thanks to her visits, many real improvements became available such as better job training, more braille books, books on tape, and better educational opportunities. Today, many people who are blind or visually impaired look to Helen Keller as their role model.

The benefits of Helen Keller's life of hard work are still felt around the world today. AFB continues its work on behalf of people with vision loss, and the Lions Club International, whom Helen Keller challenged in 1925 to become "Knights of the Blind," continues Helen's battle against sight loss, especially in third world countries. In 1988, members of Helen Keller's family founded the Helen Keller Foundation for Research and Education in response to Helen Keller's plea: "Help me hasten the day when there shall be no preventable blindness."

What were some of Helen Keller's learning experiences right after the famous well incident when she learned the word w-a-t-e-r?Helen was a wonderful student. She was eager to learn. The next step after learning the signs to physical objects was to teach Helen to read. Anne Sullivan did this by giving Helen pieces of cardboard with words spelled on them in raised print. Helen quickly learned that each word stood for an object, action, or description. She then would put together a sentence using the

words.

Helen learned just as much from the real world as she did from raised alphabet sheets and word cards. Annie made sure Helen "saw" as much as possible through touch. For instance, one day, Annie brought Helen a warm egg. Helen knew eggs were for eating. While Helen tried to figure out what was different about this egg, to her surprise, she felt the shell crack and out popped a damp baby bird.

Helen gained an appreciation for how things grow from feeling a lil’ change over a few days time from a pointed bud to a silky petal. She learned about frogs by plunging her hands into a bowl full of tadpoles. She loved the feel of them slipping and sliding between her fingers. Helen held crickets in her hand to feel their distinctive chirp. She felt the wind rustle the cornstalks in the field.

Nothing held Annie and Helen back. Together they rode horses, sailed boats on the Tennessee, and even went sledding in the winter. Helen was learning from the things that interested and excited her the most.

In her first year with Annie, Helen learned to spell over 900 words and write letters.

Shortly before her 8th birthday, Annie had Helen start a journal. She wrote in pencil on paper fitted over a grooved writing board using block letters. The entries were generally about her day-to-day activities. Her life was quite exciting, and would become much more so as time went on.

Who is Helen Keller? Helen Adams Keller was born on June 27, 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama. In 1882, she fell ill and was struck blind, deaf and mute. Beginning in 1887, Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, helped her make tremendous progress with her ability to communicate, and Keller went on to college, graduating in 1904.

How old was Helen Keller when she lost her sight and hearing? Born physically normal in Tuscumbia, Alabama, Helen Keller lost her sight and hearing at the age of nineteen months to an illness now believed to have been scarlet fever.

Why is Helen Keller important to American history? Helen was important because she helped the blind and deaf people all over the world. She raised money for the American foundation for the blind. She visited many countries and wrote many books. Helen Keller Died at the age of eighty-eight, at her home in

Connecticut.