The legendary Helen Keller is one of the most inspirational persons in the 20th century. I got to know her from the movie of The Miracle Worker. The scene at the water pump, where Helen Keller gained the meaning of finger language to the water object, aroused emotions. This is the turning point of her life and her impacts to the world were felt after that.
Helen Keller was born on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Helen Keller was not born blind and deaf; it was not until she was 19 months old that she was ill which might have been scarlet fever or meningitis. The illness left her deaf and blind. It was reported that at six months she could say How d’ye” and “tea, tea, tea”. She also knew the meaning of the word “water”, which she pronounced “wah-wah.” My guess is this little memory formed the bridge of the object and language in the water pump experience at age 7.
A former student of the Perkins Institute for the Blind, Anne Sullivan, arrived at Keller’s house in March 1887 to become Helen’s instructor. Anne herself visually impaired and only 20 years old immediately taught Helen how to spell words with her hands (called the manual alphabet, which is part of the sign language that deaf people use.) with a doll. Helen was frustrated, at first, because she did not understand that every object had a word uniquely identifying it. Until one morning at the water pump Anne had Helen hold one hand under the water. Then she spelled “W-A-T-E-R” into Helen’s other hand. Helen made the connection and the feeling turned into a word. Helen wrote in The Story of My Life, “Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten–a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that “w-a-t-e-r” meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away.” “I learned a great many new words that day. I do not remember what they all were; but I do know that mother, father, sister, teacher were among them–words that were to make the world blossom for me, “like Aaron’s rod, with flowers.” It would have been difficult to find a happier child than I was as I lay in my crib at the close of the eventful day and lived over the joys it had brought me, and for the first time longed for a new day to come.” Anne Sullivan, whom was referred to by Helen as the Teacher, became the governess, and later as companion with Helen for 49 years.
Helen Keller was eager to learn and made great progress in communicating finger language. One day, she asked the Teacher what is “love”. Helen could not comprehend the meaning because she has learned so far with things that could be felt or touched by hands. Helen wrote in the following paragraphs how she got the epiphany.
“A day or two afterward I was stringing beads of different sizes in symmetrical groups–two large beads, three small ones, and so on. I had made many mistakes, and Miss Sullivan had pointed them out again and again with gentle patience. Finally I noticed a very obvious error in the sequence and for an instant I concentrated my attention on the lesson and tried to think how I should have arranged the beads. Miss Sullivan touched my forehead and spelled with decided emphasis, “Think.“
In a flash I knew that the word was the name of the process that was going on in my head. This was my first conscious perception of an abstract idea.”
“For a long time I was still–I was not thinking of the beads in my lap, but trying to find a meaning for “love” in the light of this new idea. The sun had been under a cloud all day, and there had been brief showers; but suddenly the sun broke forth in all its southern splendor.
Again, I asked my teacher, “Is this not love?” “Love is something like the clouds that were in the sky before the sun came out,” she replied. Then in simpler words than these, which at that time I could not have understood, she explained: “You cannot touch the clouds, you know; but you feel the rain and know how glad the flowers and the thirsty earth are to have it after a hot day. You cannot touch love either; but you feel the sweetness that it pours into everything. Without love you would not be happy or want to play.”
The beautiful truth burst upon my mind–I felt that there were invisible lines stretched between my spirit and the spirits of others.”
With Anne, Helen continued her adventures to read in raised Braille letters, to speak by feeling her teacher’s mouth when she talked. In 1888, Helen attended the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston. At age 11, she wrote The Frost King. There were allegations that this story had been plagiarized
from The Frost Fairies by Margaret Canby. Helen underwent a sort of trial by a 9-member panel for hours alone without companion of Anne in a chilly room in the Boston Winter. The investigation revealed that someone else had read it to Helen three years ago while she was still learning finger alphabet and acquiring vocabulary. Some essences went into her subconscious. This incident turned out to be a blessing that many people came to her defense and she made good friends including Mark Twain. In 1890, Helen began speech classes at the Horace Mann School for the Deaf in Boston. She would labor arduously for 25 years to learn to speak so that others could understand her. Helen spent much of her life giving speeches and lectures. Determined to communicate with ordinary people unaware of finger language, she also learned to “hear” people’s speech by reading their lips with her hands.
When Helen was 20, she entered Radcliffe College, the women’s branch of Harvard University. Mark Twain had introduced her to Standard Oil executive Henry Rogers, who was so impressed with Helen’s talent, drive and determination, paid for her education. There, she was accompanied by Sullivan, who sat by her side to interpret lectures and texts. In 1904, at the age of 24, Keller graduated cum laude from Radcliffe College, becoming the first deaf blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Her first book, called The Story of My Life (1903), was translated into 50 languages. After college, Helen became a world-famous speaker and author by sharing her experiences with audiences, and working on behalf of others living with disabilities. She is remembered as an advocate for people with disabilities, amid numerous other causes. In 1915 she and George Kessler founded the Helen Keller International (HKI) organization. This organization is devoted to research in vision, health and nutrition. In 1920 she helped to found the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Helen met 12 US Presidents, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964, the highest honor that an American civilian can receive. In 1965, Helen was elected to the National Women’s Hall of Fame. Helen and Anne traveled about 40 countries on five continents and inspired millions of people.
She died in her sleep on June 1 1968 at age 87.
Helen Keller lived as a Christian, and her spiritual autobiography, My Religion, was published in 1927 and then in 1994 extensively revised and re-issued under the title Light in My Darkness.
Helen Keller was handicapped by deaf and blind, two out of five physical senses, for human beings. However, she overcame the physical limits and fully utilized her mental talents to live an abundant life. Keller advanced the social justices toward the disabled and educated the world on what can be achieved in every person. Keep in mind that we are humans and we all have handicaps in some areas, physically or mentally, at various degrees. Through Faith, Keller showed us there is light in darkness. Her life is inspirational.
For Further Reading:
Helen Keller – A life by Dorothy Herrmann. Alfred A. Knopf New York.
The World I Live In – Helen Keller 1908
Written in January, 2013