The novel the seventh grade is reading, The Miracle Worker, is about the life of Helen Keller. Miss Keller was born on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. When she was 19 months old she had a fever, and it was this illness that left her deaf and blind. When she was six and half years old her parents arranged for Miss Annie Sullivan to come and attempt to teach her. It was Miss Sullivan who finally taught her sign language through the sense of touch. Helen went on to attend school at the Perkins Institute for the Blind. Here she learned to read using raised letters and braille. She went on to attend schools in New York and learned to speak. She learned this by touching people's mouths and throats and trying to imitate this process. She was able to speak but it was very hard to understand her. Miss Sullivan was usually needed to be her interpreter. Miss Keller then went on to earn her degree at Radcliffe College.
Helen then traveled with Miss Sullivan and did fund raising for the blind. She became a world famous speaker and author. Miss Keller wanted to promote better living and working conditions for the deaf and blind. In 1915 she created the Helen Keller International which was devoted to researching vision and health.
Helen Keller wrote many different books and essays, most were autobiographical and were about the philosophies of her life. Many were about her views of socialism and women's suffrage. On June 1st 1968 she died in her sleep at the age of 87. Miss Keller has a name that will always be recognized as a woman who overcame incredible odds.
If you would like to look up more information on Helen Keller you may go to the American Foundation for the Blind's website (www.afb.org).
