Lauren McCollum, Hellen Keller

Helen Keller, born in the late 1800’s, contracted a disease at a young age, resulting in becoming deaf and blind. Although most people simply know Helen Keller for her rare condition, Helen was so much more than a disabled woman. After graduating college, Helen Keller continued to prove to the world what it meant to be strong. She did not allow her deaf and blindness to hinder her, instead she used her disabilities as motivation. Throughout her adult life Helen repeatedly advocated for social and political change. She joined organizations, attended strikes, wrote controversial letters and books, and publicly spoke to further the causes she believed in. Helen Keller’s fiery spirit, raw determination, and kind heart will be remembered in history until the end of time. She set the foundation not only for future disabled people, but for women as well. Helen Keller: much more than a disabled woman.

At a young age, playful and high-spirited Helen Keller from Alabama contracted a serious illness, which would later become life altering. Several years after contracting either scarlet fever or meningitis, (historians are not sure which one), Helen “layed in

bed, desperately ill…” (Berne 6). Her brother James cradled her in his arms as she screamed in pain, soon to realize that “she could not blink” (Berne 6). More than her inability to blink, Helen soon faced the realization that she could not see and could not speak. Helen’s conditions resulted in many struggles, foreign to an average child of her age. Helen desperately “wanted to express herself, but she did not know how” (Berne 6). Desperate for a cure, the Keller family searched far and wide for the help they sought. Helen’s family sent her to an oculist (an eye specialist), and even tried contacting famous inventor, Alexander Graham Bell, who they believed could possibly create lenses that would enable her to see. Unfortunately, both visits were unsuccessful, resulting in an incredibly discouraged family. They wondered if there was any hope for their daughter to live a decent life. After years of searching, the Keller’s finally found their solution for Helen’s learning, Anne Sullivan. Anne worked tirelessly with Helen, teaching her hands-on the techniques of braille, and sign language. While learning under Anne, Helen, “progressed incredibly fast…” and Helen was “learning not only nouns, but also verbs, adjectives, abstract thoughts, and simple sentences” (Berne 27). Her tutor, Anne Sullivan, instilled hope and determination in a once hopeless Helen Keller. Her childhood struggles not only taught her the power of determination, but also taught her that with courage and hard work, nothing is impossible.

Helen Keller graduated from Radcliffe College in 1904, receiving her bachelor’s degree in the arts. By doing so, Helen became the first blind and deaf woman to ever graduate from a university (Berne). Helen’s diploma marked the beginning of her lifelong commitment to leadership despite disability. One way in which Helen contributed her fierce ideas and passions was through joining American organizations such as the I.W.W (Industrial Workers of the World) and the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). The I.W.W was an active organization that frequently spoke out against social issues in America (Fryd). The NAACP was a well known civil rights organization (Berne). Helen showed her support for these organizations by writing letters in correspondence to presidents and vice presidents of the organizations. She was certainly not afraid to show the world her support for these causes. Helen Keller also advocated for change through writing books, and attending rallies and conferences to voice her opinions. Among her twelve published books, the two most well known ones are The Story of My Life, and The World I Live In. In these two books, Helen shared the timeline of her life up to that point, as well as, intimate lessons she learned during her trials and tribulations. Helen Keller most strongly advocated for issues which involved women’s suffrage, civil rights, better treatment for disabled people, war, worker unions, and Socialism.

Helen Keller is one of the most fascinating female Socialist members to this

day, in fact, she uprooted her life and moved to the city of Schenectady upon hearing about a Socialist mayor being elected (MacPherson). She is quoted for saying, “I am no worshipper of cloth of any color but I love the red flag and what it symbolizes to me and to other socialists. I have a red flag hanging in my study” (Fryd). As a member of the Socialist Party of Massachusetts, Helen Keller believed in minimizing pay differences, public property, as well as equal rights (Berne). To put it in simpler terms, Helen followed the belief of a “social cure” (Pedestal). Included in this social cure was a combination of social and political liberation, and freedom. Helen desired a total change in society. Her Socialist beliefs were controversial, especially considering her Southern, Conservative roots. Even Helen’s family questioned her political and social stances, saying she was “brainwashed” (Berne). The press would frequently comment on Helen’s outspoken liberalness, and give Helen nasty nicknames and insults. It was clear to see that most critics preferred that Helen limited herself to issues “closer to home” for her (deaf and blindness), but Helen did not wish to do so. Despite the controversy, and repeatedly receiving negative feedback from the press, Helen continued in her goals, never backing down (Pedestal). One of Helen Keller’s fellow workers honored her by saying, “This blind woman sees better than we who have our eye-sight, the misery of the world. She detects the cry of need more clearly than we who can hear, and though she is dumb her deeds are readier than our words” (MacPherson).

Helen Keller spoke out against varying topics, but she did also advocate for change in an area closer to home- disability. Early in her adult life, Helen joined the Massachusetts Commision for the Blind, and wrote several articles and letters in support for this cause (Berne). Helen caused great controversy for her writing in the Ladies Home Journal, regarding the most prominent cause of blindness during the early twentieth century, ophthalmia neonatorum. Ophthalmia was caused by sexually transmitted diseases being passed from mothers onto newborns (Berne 76). Helen wrote in her journal entry, “Must we leave young girls to meet the danger in the dark because we dare not turn the light upon our social wickedness? False delicacy and prudery must give place to precise information and common sense. It is high time we abolish falsehood and let the plain truth come in” (Berne 77). Her strong words struck shock and anger among many women, but Helen did mind shocking the public. She was not afraid to spread controversial ideas, even amongst women of her own age and background. Ophthalmia neonatorum was not the only suspected cause of blind and deafness in young children. Helen believed that poor working conditions and unsanitary living spaces were also the root of the disabilities. She spoke on the topic in a letter, saying, “Investigation shows that there are many clever safeguards for machinery which are not adopted because their adoption would diminish the employer’s profits… if you doubt there

is such a connection… consult those bare but illuminated reports of industrial commissions and labor bureaus” (Pedestal). Once again, Helen was not fearful of sparking controversy, in fact, she very much did with these strong accusations of hers. Rather, Helen Keller cared simply for social change. Especially with such an issue that hit close to home for her, she would not be silenced.

Helen Keller, diagnosed with permanent deaf and blindness at a young age, struggled more than that of the average child. During childhood, Helen adapted to her disabilities, and rather than become discouraged by struggles, she used her struggles as motivation to persevere. Into her adult life, Helen carried her resilient attitude. She fearlessly advocated for social and political issues, never backing down without sharing her mind. Despite critics and controversy surrounding her name, Helen Keller fought tirelessly for social change. She joined organizations, attended strikes, wrote controversial letters and books, and publicly spoke to further the causes she believed in. She set the foundation not only for future disabled people, but for women as well. Helen Keller will forever be remembered as so much more than a disabled woman.

Works Cited

Berne, Emma Carlson. Helen Keller: Courage in Darkness. Sterling, 2009.

Fryd, Linda. “Writing Women Back:.” Socialist Woman, London,

March-April 1971, p. 12+. Women’s Studies Archive, link.gale.com/apps/doc/

YDBYLL481991118/WMNS?u=lap09capt&sid=WMNS&xid=45179abf.

Accessed 8 Feb. 2021.

“Helen Keller Speaks.” Pedestal, Jan. 1971, p. 2. Women’s Studies Archive, link.gale.com/apps/doc/XLBSRU114786556/WMNS?u=lap 09capt&sid=WMNS&xid=21b26b7c. Accessed 8 Feb. 2021.

MacPherson, Mary. “International Notes.” The League Leaflet, no. 21, 1912, p. 5+. Women’s Studies Archive, link.gale.com/apps/doc/SCCPDP006054700/

WMNS?u=lap09capt&sid=WMNS&xid=5d65f47e. Accessed 9 Mar. 2021.

“One of the Few Heroic Women That We Learned about in School Was Helen

Keller.” Pedestal, Jan. 1971, p. 2. Women’s Studies Archive, link.gale.com/apps/ doc/ASPZYW025988817/WMNS?u=lap09capt&sid=WMNS&xid=147fd bab. Accessed 8 Feb. 2021.