Do you know anyone who is physically handicapped? It is not easy to overcome a handicap, but many handicapped people do lead successful lives. Helen Keller was one of them, thanks to the amazing lessons of Anne Sullivan, a partially blind teacher.
Helen Keller was born in America in 1880. When she was almost two years old, she got sick with an unusually high fever. Because of the high fever, Helen lost both her sight and her hearing.
Helen's parents were very upset. "What's wrong with her? Why can't she see or hear?" Mrs. Keller asked the doctor. The doctor explained that nothing could be done. Soon after, Helen also forgot how to talk.
Before she became sick, Helen was a happy, playful child, but now she acted like a wild animal. No one could teach her or tell her anything.
When Helen was seven years old, her parents contacted a school for the blind. The school sent a teacher named Anne Sullivan to visit them.
"Helen has been blind, deaf, and mute for five years," Helen's father told Anne. "She has had many teachers, but no one has succeeded in helping her."
"I will teach her in a special way," explained Anne. She knew that Helen was very badly behaved and that teaching her would be difficult. "Can you promise me that you won't disrupt my teaching?" she asked Helen's parents. They agreed.
The next day Anne gave Helen a pretty china doll. Anne took one of Helen's hands and put it on the doll so that Helen could feel it. Then Anne used the sign language alphabet to spell the word "doll" on the palm of Helen's hand.
But Helen did not understand. She thought it was a game.
Helen also acted rudely during meals.
"Helen is throwing things again!" Mrs. Keller cried when Helen smashed her plate.
Anne watched the scene, surprised but not shocked by Helen's behavior. "Helen must learn how to sit at the table," she told Mrs. Keller. "Where can I teach her in private?"
"We have a cabin nearby. Helen has never been there," said Helen's mother.
Anne took Helen to the nearby cabin. On the way they walked around the woods for a long time. Anne wanted Helen to think that the cabin was far, far away from home.
At the cabin Anne worked very hard trying to teach manners to Helen. When Helen ate wildly one day, Anne took away her food. Anne finally returned Helen's plate of food, but she did not let Helen eat until she sat still and used a spoon. Anne taught Helen table manners every day at every meal.
Several weeks went by. Finally Helen and Anne were ready to return home for dinner. When Helen sat still at the table, her mother was amazed.
"Oh! This is a miracle! I never thought Helen would learn anything again," said Mrs. Keller. She was even more surprised when Helen also ate her food properly.
Anne kept on trying to teach Helen letters and words. She picked up the china doll again, spelling "doll" with sign language onto Helen's hand. Helen was still confused. She finally got so frustrated and angry, she threw the doll on the floor.
"Oh no!" said Anne when the doll smashed, but she did not give up trying to teach words to her young student.
At last something remarkable happened. Anne used the water pump to show Helen how to spell "water." Anne put one of Helen's hands under the water and used the sign language alphabet to spell the word into Helen's other hand. "W-A-T-E-R," Anne spelled out the word again and again.
Suddenly Helen understood what Anne was doing. She learned that what came out of the pump was called water. Right away Helen began touching other things around her. She wanted to learn the words for everything. When Helen touched the broken doll, she cried because she understood now what Anne had been trying to teach her.
Anne was so happy, she hugged Helen. Her student was finally learning about words!
Anne began to teach Helen how to read and write, and she learned in only three years. She even began to learn to speak.
Anne and Helen spent many years together, teaching and learning and becoming close friends. Helen eventually went to several schools and even enrolled in college. At the age of 24, she became the first deaf and blind person to graduate from college.
Helen spent the rest of her life encouraging and helping people. Her mission was to help people who, like herself, had lost one or more of their senses. She also gave hope to soldiers who were handicapped during wartime.
Helen Keller traveled all over the world speaking. She wrote twelve books, met many famous people, and received important awards. Because Anne Sullivan had taught and cared for her, Helen grew up to be an amazing woman, even though she couldn't see or hear.
Think of the teachers who have cared for you and taught you. Why don't you write one of them a thank-you note today?