Helen Keller's The Story Of My Life

On June 27, 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama an inspirational figure was born. Her name was Helen Keller. Helen was born as a normal and healthy baby with perfect hearing and sight. She had developed fine and started to speak when only at the young age of six months old, and starting walking at the age of one. In 1882 Keller got a disease known as “brain fever” by the family doctor that made her have a severe high temperature and fever. One night when the dinner bell was rang Helen didn’t come downstairs, and she did not react to a waving hand in her face. Keller had lost both sight and hearing at only 19 months old. At the age of six Helen had met Anne Sullivan, which would become her tutor. Anne taught Keller the alphabet and opened up a new world

to her. Anne stayed with Helen and her family until Anne died in 1936. In a struggle Sullivan had helped Helen learn the word “water” by taking her out to the water pump and putting her hand under the spout, and making a connection between the object and the word being spelled out in the other palm. By the time she was seven she had temper tantrums toward her parents, which she would kick and scream when she didn’t get her way or she would giggle uncontrollably when she was happy. Keller would torment her friend Martha the daughter of the housekeeper. Many of Helen's family members believed that she should’ve been institutionalized. Helen had led a hard childhood life that she had many challenges to overcome and face. She had four siblings, two younger sisters and two older stepbrothers. Her dad was Colonel Arthur Keller but later became the editor of the weekly newspaper. Her mom was Kate Adams Keller which stayed at home and maintained the kids. Her parents had loved Helen and her siblings and wanted the best for all of them. The family had earned most of their money from their cotton plantation. In 1890 Helen had begun the speech class at the Horace Mann School for the Deaf in Boston for 25 years so people could understand her. Also in 1890 Helen had moved into the Perkins Institute. In 1894 until 1896 Helen had attended the Wright-Humason School for the deaf in New York City and worked on improving her communication skills and studied regular academic subjects. Two years later she attended the Cambridge School for young ladies. In 1899 she had gone to Radcliffe college and graduated in 1904 with honors, at the age of 24. During her lifetime, Helen had won over ten awards, which include the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal in 1936, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964, and got elected to the Woman’s Hall of Fame in 1965.

She also Received honorary doctoral degrees from Temple University and Harvard and from the Universities of Glasgow, Scotland; Berlin, Germany; Delhi, India; and Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Additionally she was named an Honorary Fellow of the Educational Institute of Scotland. She became famous for her autobiography called “ The Story of My Life” which was written in 1902. Her books she had wrote include The World I Live In written in 1908, Out of the Dark written in 1913, and 1938’s Helen Keller’s Journal was written. She became an author, and an educator. In later life Keller also became an activist and lecturer, sometimes in support of the blind and deaf, and sometimes for causes including Socialism and women's rights. She also founded and promoted the American Foundation for the Blind. She was known for being handicapped and being an inspirational figure and was also known as the blind and deaf woman who became a famous activist. She made a difference because she had shown the world that even being blind or deaf nothing can stop you if you're

determined. It’s important to remember her because it showed us that no disability can stop you and that people with disabilities can be as smart and successful as anyone. Helen had communicated through touch-lip reading, braille, speech typing, and finger-spelling. She is famous because of her autobiography and the way she had lived her life. In 1961 Helen had suffered a series of strokes which left her in bed at her house in Connecticut. Helen had died on the night of June 1st, 1968 just weeks before her eighty-eighth birthday. She had died in bed at her home in Westport, Connecticut. She died of natural causes, which she had drifted off to sleep during the night and hadn’t woken up the next morning. During her life she had stood as a powerful example of how determination, and hard work can allow an individual to fight over adversity by overcoming bad conditions and with a great deal of determination you can grow into a respected and world known activist, author, lecturer and educator.