Last week, I watched two documentaries of Helen Keller in my “Communication and Film” course, Helen Keller in Her Story and Visions in Silent Darkness. I was astounded by all of the things I did not know about this woman. I’m sure many of us have seen The Miracle Worker, which shows a young Helen learning how to communicate with her teacher, Anne Sullivan, but she actually lived a long and remarkable life, dying at the ripe age of 87.
Despite her handicaps, Helen overcame them all: She was the first deafblind person to earn a college degree (from Radcliffe College nonetheless!); she was fluent in several languages; she was an author, international celebrity, avid activist for women’s rights and people with disabilities, and so much more. Therefore as Women’s History Month is drawing to a close, I am honoring Helen Keller, an amazing woman in not only American history, but also world history.
In 1880, Helen Keller was born a perfectly healthy baby in Tuscumbia, Ala. At 19 months old, she contracted an illness that left her deaf, blind and mute, never to hear or see again. Helen’s parents hired the partially blind Anne Sullivan to be her teacher. But over the span of 49 years, their relationship became so much more; they were inseparable. Sullivan spelled words into Helen’s hand, hoping the child would understand that these words represented objects. As is true in The Miracle Worker, “water” was Helen’s first word.
Helen proved to be a bright student and fast learner. She attended the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Massachusetts, the Wright-Humason School for the Deaf in New York City, the Cambridge School for Young Ladies, and finally, Radcliffe College—which, at the time, was the all-female institution of Harvard—where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree. Amazing.
Her story is a fascinating one, but even more so inspiring. At 22, Helen published her autobiography, The Story of My Life, with the help of Anne Sullivan. I read parts of it, and I still cannot comprehend how she was able to do so much with a body that gave her so little. I do not understand how she knew what words meant, especially abstract ones such as love and kindness. The documentaries truly opened my eyes; Helen did not see her blindness and deafness as pitiable, she saw her life as a gift—and she certainly returned the favor.
Although she learned to speak by imitating the shape of the lips and feeling the vibrations of the throat from certain sounds, Helen’s words were incomprehensible; therefore, Anne Sullivan, and later, Polly Williams interpreted her speeches to audiences. Helen did not let this stop her though. For someone whose words were arcane, she was outspoken in her beliefs. She spoke for people with disabilities and for women, and for the two combined, of course. She was a pacifist and socialist. She travelled all over the world, met all of the U.S. presidents during her lifetime, received numerous awards, and formed friendships with countless famous people such as Alexander Graham Bell, Charlie Chaplin, Mark Twain, and Martha Graham. Oh, and she’s on the Alabama state quarter.
Helen Keller was able to see what many of us cannot. The silence and darkness of her life allowed her to see from her heart and mind, cultivating her incredible imagination and unique perception of the world. Even though she could not see or hear, she knew so much, and was able to articulate her ideas and passions through her philanthropy, speeches, and works.
Helen Keller changed the course of history and how the world perceived the disabled. She is truly an inspiration to disabled and non-disabled peoples alike.
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart.”
Helen Keller