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Zuzanna Kościuk The Life of Hellen Keller

In the late 19Indeks górny th^th century, at the age of barely 19 months, Helen Keller fell victim tofell victim to [fall victim to sth]fell victim to an unspecified illness (today believed to be meningitismeningitismeningitis which left her deaf and blind. The new life of silence and darkness proved to be difficultproved to be difficult [prove to be difficult]proved to be difficult for young Helen who, according to testimoniestestimonies [testimony]testimonies of her family members, became an unrulyunrulyunruly if not downright aggressivedownright aggressivedownright aggressive child. Some of the family friends suggested she become institutionalisedbecome institutionalisedbecome institutionalised but Keller’s mother refused and instead, decided to aid her daughter on the journey of becoming a fully‑functioning member of societyfully‑functioning member of the societyfully‑functioning member of society.

During one of the visits to an eye doctor in Baltimore, the Kellers were instructed to contact Alexander Graham Bell, a famous American inventor whose mother and wife were deaf, which prompted him to devote his lifeprompted him to devote his life [prompt one to do sth]prompted him to devote his life to helping those struggling with deafness. Bell, in turn, suggested the Kellers contact the Perkins Institute for the Blind which the family did. That marked the breakthroughmarked the breakthrough [mark the breakthrough]marked the breakthrough in Helen’s life.

Soon, the family welcomed Anne Sullivan – a teacher proficient inproficient inproficient in braille and manual alphabetmanual alphabetmanual alphabet (a system of hand signs used by the deaf). At first, the teacher and student didn’t get on well due to Helen’s behavioural issues but Anne perseveredpersevered [persevere]persevered. She and her young student lived together on the Keller’s estate (though not in the family house), and young Helen soon becamebecame cooperative [become cooperative]became cooperativebecame cooperative [become cooperative]cooperative which made her more perceptive toperceptive toperceptive to study.

The study consisted ofconsisted of [consist of]consisted of Anne teaching Hellen the names of objects by spelling the words into the young girl’s hand. Once Helen conceptualisedconceptualised [conceptualise]conceptualised language, she became devoted to learning it and persistent inpersistent inpersistent in her attempts at obtaining higher education. The process was gruellinggruellinggruelling since at the time, few textbooks were available in braille and the issue becamebecome pronouncedbecame even more pronouncedbecome pronouncedpronounced once Helen started attending lectures. Anne had to translate all information using the manual alphabet which put a strain on her health.

Nevertheless, Helen obtained her Bachelor’s degreeobtained her Bachelor’s degree [obtain one’s Bachelor’s degree]obtained her Bachelor’s degree and devoted herself to writing as well as spreading awareness ofspreading awareness [spread awareness]spreading awareness of her condition and life with Anne during a series of toursseries of toursseries of tours. This could be achieved thanks to Keller’s never‑ending attempts at mastering speech. Despite the limitations in her verbal communication, she was always eager to go out in the open and talk about her experiences.

This effort paid off later in life when Helen was approached by the American Foundation for the Blind to become their spokespersonspokespersonspokesperson. Due to her inspirational journey as well as the skills she had developed, she attracted audiences who financially supported the Foundation and even allowed Keller to petition Congresspetition Congresspetition Congress for more funding for books printed in braille.

Throughout her life, Keller wrote many books which illustratedillustrated [illustrate]illustrated different steps of her journey and became prominent enough for her life to be turned into an award‑winning 1962 movie The Miracle Worker.

1 Źródło: Zuzanna Kościuk, dostępny w internecie: Helen Keller, The Story of My Life, https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2397 [dostęp 31.08.2022], John Donovan, Deaf, Blind and Determined: How Helen Keller Learned to Communicate, https://people.howstuffworks.com/helen-keller.htm [dostęp 31.08.2022], Patricia E. Daniels, Biography of Helen Keller, Deaf and Blind Spokesperson and Activist, https://www.thoughtco.com/helen-keller-1779811 [dostęp 31.08.2022], Teaching Helen Keller How to Speak, https://www.afb.org/about-afb/history/online-museums/anne-sullivan-miracle-worker/anne-teacher/teaching-helen-speak [dostęp 31.08.2022], licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.