• Helen Keller was born on the 27th
June 1880.
• She was a happy baby but after
becoming very ill at 19 months old she
was left blind and deaf.
• People around her found her difficult
to understand when she tried to talk.
• This left her very cross and often very
naughty.
• Answer these questions.
• When did Helen become deaf and
blind?
• Why did she get angry?
•
•
•
Helen was lucky that her
parents could afford
someone to look after her.
Annie arrived and straight
away knew she had to get
Helen to behave.
Helen would have to wash
and dress before being given
breakfast.
Annie tried to help by
spelling words on Helen’s
hand, but Helen did not
understand. Then one day
while getting water from the
tap outside water went on
one of Helen’s hands, on her
other hand Annie spelt the
word water. Helen had learnt
her first word.
• Try this on a
friend’s hand – ask
them to close their
eyes. Now spell
your name on their
hand - can they
guess what you
have written?
• Now she could ’talk’ to
people, Helen was no
longer angry. She learnt
very quickly because
other people ‘wrote’ on
her hand. But how could
she learn more for
herself without someone
to help her?
• A man called Louis Braille
worked out a way that
allowed blind people to
read. Patterns of raised
dots, each letter has it’s
own pattern. Blind people
read by touching the
raised dots to feel each
letter. Helen learnt very
quickly.
.
Not only did she learn to
read and write but she
also started to write
letters.
Her writing was kept
straight by lines of
dots on special paper.
• Helen learned about
another girl who was
also deaf and blind but
was learning to speak.
• Helen went to the
Horace Mann School
for the deaf.
• Here Helen learned to
speak but was still quite
difficult to undertand.
• Annie could not teach Helen everything she needed
to know. She needed to go to school. Annie went to
all her classes.
• At 10 she went to a school in New York for the deaf
• At 12 she went to Cambridge School for young
ladies.
• Annie wrote whatever the teacher said on Helen’s
hand.
• When Helen was 20 she went to Radcliffe
College.This was not a college for blind and deaf
students.
• Annie stayed with Helen
even when she got married.
• Helen always wanted to
help the blind and travelled
all over the world telling her
story.
• She worked for the
Foundation for the Blind.
• Helen died when she was 87
but people still remember
Helen for she was so brave
and did so much good.