HELEN KELLER

The dawn of the last century saw the working of determination and faith in the story of Helen Keller. Born in the little Alabama town of Tuscumbia on 27 June, Helen was a beautiful healthy child of Captain Arthur Keller and his wife Katherine. Tragedy struck when Helen was a little over one and half years, when she lost her eyesight and hearing. This subjected her to a life of total dependence, a life of silent dark loneliness, the screams of which must go unheard.

The parents approached Dr. Michael and Dr. Howe of Perkins Institute for the Blind in desperation. They suggested the name of Anne Sullivan, a graduate of Perkins Institute, to try and teach the girl something. Unable to perform the everyday sundry actions like washing her face and buttoning her shoes, Helen’s pathetic condition faced Anne with a formidable challenge. Anne’s own experience with a handicap, equipped her well to understand the anguish of this tortured soul. Helen’s education began with her teacher getting to know the dark recesses of her troubled soul. Anne tried to understand the agony and ecstasy of Helen’s life. Thus at the age of six, Helen Keller started to discover the vistas of the new world that opened before her. At the age of eight, when she was taken to Perkins Institute by Anne, a new world of knowledge opened for Helen.

Helen was twenty four when she graduated with special honours in English. By this time she was a national celebrity. She was corresponding with well known personalities.

After Anne’s death, Helen continued to make the world a better place for the blind all over the world. She became pillar of strength for the American Foundation for the Blind. She died in 1968, just before her 88th birthday. –Roopa Gosain

 

 

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