Helen Keller Struggles

Helen Keller once said, “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved” (Keller). Helen Adams Keller was born on June 27th, 1880 to Captain Arthur Keller and Kate Adams Keller. Just before Helen’s second birthday, she fell ill with scarlet fever. However, no medicine could fix her illness and it left her blind, deaf, and unable to talk. Until the age of six, Helen lived in a colorless and voiceless world. Helen Keller became a successful woman by embracing her disability, becoming educated and making a difference in the world.

Helen’s life growing up with a disability caused Helen to become frustrated from being lonely. She

She attended The Perkins School for the blind until, the age of fourteen when she moved to New York. In 1984, Helen attended the Wright-Humason School for the Deaf. She excelled in her classes and after two years, she headed to Cambridge School for Young Ladies. Going to the Cambridge School for Young Ladies prepared Helen for Radcliffe University. However, “The problem was that Anne Sullivan could not sign all the words in the books Helen Keller had to read, all of the books had to be embossed, which took some time. Her studies presented obstacles, as she had to use a Braille writer at times, and she had to draw mathematical figures on a cushion with wires because she could not see the figures on the board. It was also difficult for her to understand the braille for numbers and figures”(Enotes 1). Just like other students, Helen Keller struggled in school. Helen was unable to make friends in college,so she focused extremely hard on her school work. Thus, leading to overworking and only focusing on school. Sullivan continued to help Keller. Anne Sullivan noticed Helen’s desire and dedication since she had been attending school. Anne wrote to Helen Keller’s family; “From then on, Keller had an unsustainable desire to learn...I see an improvement in Helen from day to day, almost hour to hour” (Hess 14). Keller was introduced to a Harvard English teacher named John Macy, who

After twenty-five years, Helen Keller’s speech was back. She travelled to schools and conferences all around the country. In 1916, she even spoke out at the Women's Peace Party about the “Strike Against War”(Keller). Helen started every speech stating her disability. Helen Keller spoke, “To begin with, I have a word to say to my good friends, the editors, and others who are moved to pity me. Some people are grieved because they imagine I am in the hands of unscrupulous persons who lead me astray and persuade me to espouse unpopular causes and make me the mouthpiece of their propaganda. Now, let it be understood once and for all that I do not want their pity; I would not change places with one of them. I know what I am talking about”(Keller). Her voice was voiceless for more than half of her life but soon started to make an impact. Helen Keller made such an impact that she was able to meet President Calvin Coolidge, President Grover Cleveland and John Kennedy. Also many other famous people such as, Mark Twain, Frank Sinatra and Alexander Graham Bell. Helen accomplished more than one thousand articles, seven books and hundreds of speeches. She inspired thousands of people with disabilities from all over the world to never give