HELEN KELLER

Helen Keller was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama in

1880. She has four siblings named James Keller,
Mildred Keller, William Simpson Keller, and Phillips
Keller. Her parents were named Kate Adams Keller
and Arthur Keller. She grew up on her family's
large farm called Ivy Green.

Keller attended Perkins School for the Blind for four

years. She then spent a year at the Cambridge
School for Young Ladies to prepare for Radcliffe
College. In 1900-1904, Helen Keller studied at
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. She even
graduated Cum Laude and became the first person
who was deaf and blind to earn a Bachelor of Arts
degree. She published two books before she
graduated with the titles being The Story of My Life
(1902) and Optimism (1903). This launched her
career as a writer and lecturer.
 Despite having so many accomplishments,
you would have thought she was
privileged, yet that is quite the opposite.
When she was 19 months old, she was
diagnosed as deaf and blind.
She had no proper formal education and so
she developed a system for communicating
with her family by feeling their facial
expressions. As she grew older, she had a
system to communicate in which each letter
has a sign.

She had once quoted “It is not blindness or

deafness that brings me to my darkest hours,
it is the acute disappointment of not being able
to speak normally.” Despite having these
disabilities, she worked hard and became
successful. In 1964, she was awarded the
“Presidential Medal of Freedom”. It is the
highest civilian award of the United States.
She also won numerous honors which included
several honorary university degrees, the Lions
Humanitarian Award, the Presidential Medal
of Freedom, the French Legion of Honor and
election to the Women's Hall of Fame.
By 1920, Helen Keller co-founded the American
Civil Liberties Union which strived To defend
and preserve the individual rights and liberties
to every person in this country by the
Constitution and laws of the United States”.
Helen Adams Keller was an American author,
disability rights advocate, political activist and
lecturer. She is a voice to all those disabled.
Unfortunately, by June 1, 1968 at age 87, Helen
Keller died an unfortunate death. However,
her story does not end on the day she died.

As of now, her story is being told. The society

is greatly inspired by her, people who were
born with disabilities have heard of her story
and it pushed them to reach their goals.
Haben Girma is also deaf and blind, and
because of Helen Keller, she was able to
become a lawyer. This shows the influence
and how much Helen Keller is an inspiration.
She is talked about in schools and her story is
shared all over the world, even until now.