who is helen keller
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Helen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Who was Helen Keller?
The Story of Helen Keller :-
Helen was born in Alabama ( a south-eastern U.S. state ) in 1880. She was a cheerful and a healthy baby. Her parents were Kate Adams Keller and Colonel Arthur Keller. Her father worked for a newspaper. She grew up on her family's large farm called Ivy Green. When Helen was almost two years old, she contracted an illness. She got very sick and had a high fever for many days. Helen became deaf and blind as a result of an unknown illness. With the passage of time, Helen developed her own method of communicating with the people around. Helen was very intelligent and tried to understand her surroundings through touch, smell and taste. However, she realised that her family members communicated with their mouths instead of using signs as she did. She would become wild and unruly when she was unable to join in a conversation. She would kick and scream when angry. Her parents knew they needed help, so they hired a tutor named Anne Sullivan. She was just 14 years older than Helen. She was strict, but she had a lot of energy. Anne began the task of teaching Helen by manually signing into her hand. Anne spelled letters with her fingers on Helen's palm. But Helen didn't understand what the letters meant. To help Helen understand better, Anne took her to a water pump and let cold water run over her hand. Then she wrote the letters W-A-T-E-R in Helen's palm again and again. Suddenly Helen understood the letters spelled out in her palm. Now she knew that everything had a name. She knew that 'water' meant the substance flowing over her hand. Immediately, Helen bent down and tapped the ground; Anne spelled 'earth' on her hand. By the night that day, she had learned 30 new words. Helen wanted to speak and communicate like others. She learned to speak when she was ten by feeling her teacher's mouth when she talked. Helen later learned to read books in Braille. People often found it hard to understand her, but she never gave up trying. Helen learned to read many languages ( French, German, Greek, and Latin ) in braille! When she was 20, she entered Radcliffe College, the women's branch of Harvard University. She graduated at the age of 24 and became the first deaf-blind person to earn a bachelor's degree in Arts. She was determined to stay connected with people and the world around her, so with great effort she learnt to speak. She became so good that she started giving lectures and speeches about her life. With the help of Sullivan she wrote her first book 'The Story of My Life'. It covered her transformation from childhood to a 21-year-old college student. Her first book was translated into 50 languages. She became a renowned author and speaker. She travelled to 25 countries spreading awareness and talking about deaf people's problems. Keller wanted to support other people suffering from blindness. In the year 1915, she co-founded the Helen Keller International organisation dedicated to fighting causes of blindness and poor health. The organisation is still active in 22 countries around the world. Helen also inspired many works of art, including two Oscar-winning movies, and received many honours for her accomplishments, such as the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honour that an American civilian can receive. She died in her sleep in 1968. Helen did not let her disabilities stop her from learning and helping others. Her life is an example of how much difference we can make with our determination and hard work.
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