All illustrations by Chris Danger

Helen Keller

She overcame many challenges and helped improve life for people with disabilities.

March 27, 2023

By Rebecca Zissou

Crash! Six-year-old Helen Keller flew into a rage during dinner, hurling dishes and silverware. For her parents, it was a familiar scene. Keller was blind and deaf. She did her best to understand what was happening around her, but not being able to communicate caused her to frequently erupt in anger.

The challenges she faced seemed impossible to overcome. Yet with the help of a dedicated teacher, she eventually learned to read, write, and speak. Keller went on to become a world-famous author and advocate for people with disabilities.

Life-Changing Lessons

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Helen Keller

Keller was born in Alabama on June 27, 1880. She developed a terrible illness before she turned 2. Doctors feared she wouldn’t survive. Keller recovered, but she lost her sight and hearing.

The next few years were a constant struggle for Keller and her family. Desperate for help, her parents contacted the Perkins School for the Blind in Massachusetts. The school sent a teacher named Anne Sullivan.

At first, Keller lashed out at Sullivan too, even knocking out one of her teeth. Yet Sullivan refused to give up on her new student. She tried teaching Keller words by spelling them on her hand, but Keller didn’t understand what the letters meant.

After a month with little progress, Sullivan had an idea. She put Keller’s hand into a stream of water from a pump. In Keller’s other hand, Sullivan traced the letters W-A-T-E-R over and over. Miraculously, Keller made the connection. The cool liquid streaming through her fingers was called water!

“That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free!” Keller wrote years later.

The breakthrough seemed to unlock something inside Keller. That first day, she learned 30 words, including mother, father, and teacher.

A Gifted Student

Keller’s understanding of language grew quickly. She soon learned to read and write in braille—a system of writing with raised dots that people feel with their fingers. She also learned to speak clearly enough for her family and Sullivan to understand her.

In 1900, with Sullivan by her side, 20-year-old Keller began attending Radcliffe College in Massachusetts. The young woman who could hardly communicate as a child went on to earn a college degree. While at Radcliffe, Keller even published her first book, an autobiography called The Story of My Life.

Spreading Hope

Keller’s writing soon appeared in magazines and newspapers. She called for more rights for women, workers, and people who are poor. In all, she wrote at least a dozen books and more than 475 speeches and essays.

As more people read Keller’s work, they became inspired by her story. She used her fame to call attention to the challenges people with disabilities face around the globe. Keller, who died in 1968 at age 87, spent her life trying to make the world a better place.

“We are never really happy until we try to brighten the lives of others,” she once wrote.