Geographical classification

America > United States

Socio-cultural movements

Late modern period / Contemporary period > Feminism

Groups by dedication

Activists

Educators > Teachers / Lecturers / Professors

Popularisers / Cultural promoters

Writers > in > English

Writers > Orators

Writers > Autobiographers

Character

Helen Adams Keller

Tuscumbia. Alabama 27-06-1880 ‖ Easton. Connecticut 01-06-1968

Period of activity: From 1900 until 1968

Geographical classification: America > United States

Socio-cultural movements

Late modern period / Contemporary period > Feminism

Groups by dedication

Activists

Educators > Teachers / Lecturers / Professors

Popularisers / Cultural promoters

Writers > in > English

Writers > Orators

Writers > Autobiographers

Context of feminine creation

Among other deafblind people of the time, the following can be highlighted:

- Laura Bridgman (1829-1889). She was not as famous as Helen Keller, but she is recognized as the first deafblind American to learn to read and write, 50 years before Helen. Launched to fame by the writer Charles Dickens, some people consider her to be even smarter than Helen.

- Marie Heurtin (1885-1921), born deafblind in France, learned to read and write when her teacher, Sister Sainte-Marguerite, taught her sign language. Her life was made into a film in Marie's Story, with good reviews.

- Yvonne Pitrois (1880-1937), French deaf journalist and writer. She was the European correspondent for The Silent Worker for many years.

- Clara María Victoria Pechuan, who received the “CV ASOCIDE 2012” award for her effort and dedication to women with visual and hearing impairment, in addition to being the first totally deafblind woman to found ASOCIDE in the Valencian Community, Spain, in 1999. She graduated as a physical therapist.

- Gennet Corcuera (1984-), abandoned in an African orphanage and adopted by a family in Madrid, has finished her university studies, being the first deafblind woman from birth in all of Europe to achieve it. She is working in a special education school with deafblind people.

Review

Helen Keller was an American educator, advocate for the blind and deaf, and co-founder of the ACLU. Stricken with illness at the age of 2, Keller became blind and deaf. Starting in 1887, Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, helped her make tremendous progress in her ability to communicate, and Keller went to college, graduating in 1904. During her lifetime, she received many honours in recognition of her achievements. She became a world-renowned and respected activist who worked for the betterment of others.

Justifications

She was the first deafblind person to earn a college degree.
She was a symbol of the fight for the rights of people with disabilities. US President Lyndon Johnson awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964.
In 1965, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

Biography

Helen Keller was born on 27 June 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. At the age of nineteen months, she suffered from a serious illness that left her deaf and blind.

From the age of seven, she received special education in reading and writing with Anne Mansfield Sullivan, later Macy, of the Perkins Institute for the Blind.

She soon learned to read Braille and write using a machine built just for her. In 1900 she was accepted to Radcliffe University, from which she graduated four years later.

She served on the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind and lectured around the world.

Her life was the subject of a film, The Unconquered, and a theatrical play, The Miracle Worker.

Helen Adams Keller passed away at Arcan Ridge, Easton, on 1 June 1968.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller> (28/03/2022)

Works

In Spanish:

Keller, Hellen (2012), Historia de mi vida. Editorial Renacimiento.

Bibliography

In Spanish: Keller, Hellen (2012) Historia de mi vida. Editorial Renacimiento.

In English: Wikipedia, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller> (28/03/2022).

Didactic approach

She can be studied in:

- Literature, to talk about the theatrical play The Miracle Worker.

- Alternative to Religion, to comment on the values and difficulties encountered by a deafblind person.

- Economy, to work on the necessary investment of the state in the disability chapter.