Out of Darkness and Silence: Helen Keller, A Case Study

Our knowledge of the world comes to us through our senses. What happens, then, if we lose one or more of those senses? Perception may not be lost if other senses can compensate for the missing sense or senses. The life of Helen Keller serves as an excellent example of this compensation. Helen Keller was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama in 1880. When she was 19 months old, she was walking and had just started to learn a few words. Suddenly, she became very ill. Despite the doctors prediction that she would die, Keller survived, but she had become both deaf and blind. It is hard to imagine what it must be like to wake up one day and find nothing but silence and darkness where once you heard sounds and saw objects and people. Not surprisingly, the young Keller became difficult to manage. Fearful, she clung to her mothers apron, and at times she had violent temper tantrums. When Keller was almost seven, her life changed dramatically. Anne Sullivan arrived in Tuscumbia to teach Keller. Sullivan, who had been nearly blind herself, had attended the Perkins Institution for the Blind in Boston. Although two operations had restored much of her eyesight, she understood what it was like to be blind, and she was eager to help her new pupil. The situation did not look promising at first. Keller was rude to her new teacher, and she would not sit still to have Sullivan use the manual alphabet. In the manual alphabet, which is still used with people who are deaf and blind, the speaker makes the signs right into the hand of the listener, using the sense of touch to communicate. At first Sullivan tried the word doll when she gave the child a doll as a gift. Keller simply took the present and ran off. Eventually, however, she began to imitate Sullivan, but she still had difficulty connecting words with the actual objects. One day, Sullivan put her pupils hand under running water and repeatedly spelled the word water into the girls palm. Suddenly, Keller realized that w-a-t-e-r was the cool something that was running over her hand, and a breakthrough occurred. Within one hour, she learned 30 new words. From that beginning came a long life of both learning and teaching. The easiest words to learn were those that described objects or things Keller could taste or smell. It was harder to the young girl to understand that her feelings also had names. For the first few years, Sullivan was Kellers only teacher. Keller was soon eager to learn more. At the age of 10, Keller decided that she needed to learn to speak. To do so, she took lessons from a teacher of people who were deaf. Eventually, Keller learned to speak by hearing the vibrations made when she placed her fingers on Sullivans larynx. Keller also learned to listen to others speak by putting her middle finger on the speakers nose, her forefinger on the speakers lips and her thumb on the speakers larynx.

Keller wanted to attend Radcliffe College, but to do so she had to compete regular high school. Sullivan accompanied her to class and signed the lectures into Kellers hand. Keller passed her exams and was admitted to Radcliffe. Later, Keller and Sullivan traveled and lectured around the world. They never rested in their efforts to improve the lives of people with disabilities. Most people who are deaf and blind today agree that Helen Keller, who died in 1968, is an inspirational role model. She met with many US presidents and other important leaders, focusing attention on the challenges faced by the deaf and the blind. Many of the recent advances in sight and hearing loss prevention and a result of her tireless calls to action. What do you think? 1. 2. How do people compensate for lost senses? How do you think you might deal with losing one or more of you senses?