Helen Keller was an American author, speaker, and activist who lost both her sight and hearing as a toddler and went on to become one of the most admired people of the twentieth century. She learned to communicate, earned a college degree, and traveled the world fighting for the rights of people with disabilities. Her determination showed that no obstacle is too great to overcome.
Helen Adams Keller was born on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. At just nineteen months old, she became seriously ill with a fever that left her completely deaf and blind. As a young child, Helen grew frustrated because she could not communicate with her family and often threw tantrums. Everything changed in 1887 when a young teacher named Anne Sullivan arrived at the Keller home. In one famous moment at the water pump, Sullivan spelled the word “water” into Helen’s hand while cool water flowed over her other hand, and Helen suddenly understood that everything had a name.
With Anne Sullivan by her side, Helen learned to read using Braille and even learned to speak by feeling the vibrations of other people’s throats and lips. In 1904, she graduated from Radcliffe College, becoming the first deaf-blind person in history to earn a bachelor’s degree. Helen went on to write fourteen books and hundreds of articles, and she gave lectures all over the world about the rights of people with disabilities. She was also a passionate activist for women’s right to vote, workers’ rights, and world peace, and she helped co-found the American Civil Liberties Union in 1920. During her lifetime, she visited thirty-five countries to advocate for people who were blind, deaf, or living with other disabilities.
Helen Keller received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964, one of the highest honors an American citizen can earn. Her autobiography, The Story of My Life, has been translated into more than fifty languages and is still widely read in schools today. She passed away in 1968 at the age of eighty-seven, but her story continues to teach people that courage and persistence can overcome any challenge. Organizations she supported, like the American Foundation for the Blind, carry on her mission to help people with disabilities live full and independent lives.
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