Famous People - Helen Keller Biography

June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968

Helen Keller Biography

Are you familiar with the amazing life of Helen Keller? At only 19 months old, Helen Keller was struck with a sudden illness that left her deaf and blind. For years, she lived in a world of darkness and silence without any way to express herself. With hopes of one day being able to communicate with their daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Keller enrolled Helen in the Perkins Institute for the Blind where she met her teacher Annie Sullivan.

Helen was very eager to learn how to communicate with people and Annie Sullivan, who was also blind, helped her accomplish this. Helen’s big breakthrough in communication came one day when she made a connection between the word water and water itself. This was accomplished when Annie poured water into the palm of Helen’s hand while spelling out ‘w-a-t-e-r’ in her other hand. It wasn’t too long after this initial breakthrough that Helen began reading raised letters and eventually Braille (raised dots). Eventually Helen was able to read Braille in 5 different languages (English, French, German, Greek and Latin). She even learned to speak using the Tadoma method (a way to interpret speech by touching the lips and throat of others as they speak).