Learning from Helen Keller Essays -- Helen Keller Deaf Blind Essays

Learning from Helen KellerFacilitated Communication InstituteHelen Keller is probably the most universally recognized disabled soul of the twentieth century. (Others much(prenominal) as Franklin Roosevelt were equally well- cognize, but Keller is remembered primarily for her accomplishments which are disability-related.) Those of us who have grown up in the last half of this century have only known Keller as a figure of veneration. We know her primarily through popularized versions of her life such as the play The Miracle Worker, or through her autobiographical works such as The Story of My Life (Keller, 1961 1902) and The World I Live In (Keller, 1908). Most of us have come away with the image of a more-than-human person living with the blessed offer of an equally superhuman mentor, Annie Sullivan Macy. There is little wisdom, however, to be learned from the stories of superheroes. It is from observing the struggles, losses and compromises in both Keller and Sullivans lives that we are apt(predicate) to find parallels to the everyday experiences of ourselves and our friends. Dorothy Herrmanns recent biography of Keller, Helen Keller A Life (Herrmann, 1998) creates a much more complete picture of the costs of Kellers celebrity and iconic status, and of the tensions fork up in her life-long relationship with the woman whom she always referred to as Teacher. In this paper, I will discuss two important themes from Helen Kellers life in terms of their implications for those of us who are also part of a community of people engaged in the enterprise of finding their voices in the world. The Frost King Incident Helen Keller was born(p) in Alabama in 1880, and became deaf and then blind following an illness when she was 19 months old. Annie Sullivan came to Alabama to work as Helens teacher in March, 1887. just a month later, on April 5, 1887, came the well-known moment at the water-pump, where Helen first associated the objects she experienced with the words bei ng spelled into her hand. Within the next year, Helen began keeping a journal, and was poring over the poetry of Longfellow, Whittier, and Oliver Wendell Holmes. By the time she was ten years old, Helen Keller was literally world-famous. As early as October, 1888, she was writing letters such as the following genius to Michael Anagnos, the director of the Perkins School for the Blind Mon cher Mon... ...in facilitators, for administrators who provide access to enriched staffing resources, and for allies involved in connecting an individual with his or her broader community. The world will never see some other Helen Keller. Those visible people with disabilities of our generation do not stand alone and unique -- increasingly, they are force-outful members of a powerful community, in control of those who support them rather than controlled by them. Those of us who are supporters and allies of facilitated communication users can play an important role in helping our friends come in to possession of their power and full citizenship in our community. The most powerful acts -- and often the most complicated and painful ones -- by which we can support movement in this direction, are those acts by which, a piece at a time, we become less and less indispensable. REFERENCES Herrmann, D. (1998). Helen Keller A Life. novel York, Alfred A. Knopf. Keller, H. (1961 1902) The Story of my Life. New York, Dell. Keller, H. (1908). The World I Live In. New York, Grosset and Dunlop. Shevin, M. (1993). Editorial Who are our Phyllis Wheatleys? Facilitated Communication Digest 1(3) 1-2.