Helen Keller is one of the most inspirational women I have ever read about!
She had every reason to 'give up' on life but refused to let her disabilities stop her from doing anything she wanted to do.
Helen Adams Keller was born on 27th June, 1880, in Alabama. At 19 months of age, she contracted an unknown illness (possibly scarlet fever or meningitis) which left this little girl deaf and blind, leaving Helen living in a "sea of dense fog."
Learning to communicate with her family, Helen had over 60 'home' signs and could distinguish people by the vibration of their footsteps. The family were referred to Alexander Graham Bell, who at the time was working with deaf people and he advised them to contact the Perkins Institute for the blind. Here, they met Anne Sullivan, who was herself visually impaired and Anne became Helen's 'tutor', teaching her pupil to spell words "into her hand."
Helen said that: "The living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, set it free!"
Helen enjoyed music as she could feel the beat and she had a very strong connection with animals. In time, Helen attended the Perkins Institute for the Blind and then moved on to the Wright-Humason School for the Deaf. All the time, Anne stayed with her pupil.
Eventually, Helen gained admittance to the Radcliffe College of Harvard University and at 24 years of age, graduated from Radcliffe.
Helen Keller became the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. This was an amazing triumph for Helen --- but she did not stop there!
Helen now went 'on tour', lecturing about how others too can achieve great things. With Anne, Helen 'toured' the world and published a total of 12 books --- despite being deaf and blind!
In 1961, Helen suffered a series of strokes and died in 1968, in her sleep, just before her 88th birthday.
What an Inspiration Helen Keller is to us all --- and most of us can hear and see!
If you'd like to read about Helen's life in more detail, clink on the links "Helen Keller" --- you will come away truly Inspired!
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