It wasn’t until Helen met her teacher Anne Sullivan (who went on to become her mentor and friend), that she believed her ‘soul was born’.Īnne showed up in Helen’s life in March 1887, when Helen was seven years old. Helen believed her life started at the age of seven The desire to be able to speak out became so strong, Helen even created a kind of sign language with her friend Marsha Washington – and by the time she was just seven years old, they’d already made up over 60 signs to communicate to each other.

Many of her relatives even thought she be put in an institutionīut the truth was, this behaviour really only boiled down to her high level of intelligence, and her frustration at not being able to communicate once she realised other were having conversations she couldn’t join. She was having daily outbursts of emotion kicking and screaming when she felt angry, and giggling uncontrollably when she was happy.

When Helen was a a young child, her behaviour had become highly erratic.

Helen was called an ‘unruly child’ when she was young Soon after, they realised that Helen had lost both her sight and hearing. These days her illness probably would have been labelled Scarlet Fever or Meningitis – both which could now be treated, but back then they often had severe consequences.Ī few days after Helen’s fever broke, her Mum noticed she wasn’t responding when the bell was rung for dinner, or when a hand was waved in front of her face. Helen Keller wasn’t born with a disability, but when she was only 19 months old, she became sick with what the doctors called “an acute congestion of the stomach and the brain”. A childhood illness took Helen’s sight and hearing You would all know the story of Helen Keller, the well known writer, political activist and pioneer for people with disability.īut there’s a lot more to Helen’s story than you’ve probably heard – so we decided to dig a little deeper, and share some lesser known facts about this remarkable woman.

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