Helen Keller was born deaf and blind in 1880 in Alabama. In 1887, Anne Sullivan became her teacher and breakthroughs in communication soon followed. When Sullivan spelled "water" into Keller's hand while water was poured over it, Keller understood the connection between words and their meanings. Sullivan's teaching allowed Keller to learn to read, write, and speak. Keller went on to graduate from Radcliffe College in 1904 and spent her life advocating for the deaf and blind. Sullivan's role in Keller's life was transformative, opening up new possibilities for learning and connection by teaching her sign language. Keller dedicated her life to helping others through writing, speaking, and establishing organizations.

1. Glimpse in the Biography of Helen Keller
In June of 1880, Helen Keller was born in the city of Tuscumbia, Alabama. Her parents Kate and
Colonel Arthur Keller welcomed their perfectly healthy infant daughter into Ivy Green, their
home. When Helen was nineteen months old, she developed an illness that resulted in both
blindness and deafness. It's thought that the sickness was either meningitis or scarlet fever.
Naturally, Helen's parents felt concern for her future. As Helen grew into a young girl, she became
increasingly frustrated with her inability to communicate. She learned to recognize her family
members by touching their facial features, their clothing, or by detecting a scent of perfume.
Colonel Keller and his wife knew they had to try to help their daughter lead as normal a life as
possible. They consulted with Alexander Graham Bell, who worked with the deaf, and he
suggested they hire Anne Sullivan as Helen's teacher. This decision would change Helen's life
forever.
In 1887, Anne Sullivan arrived at Ivy Green to meet Helen and her family. Anne Sullivan was a
determined, young teacher who had lived with blindness herself until undergoing successful
surgery. Anne soon realized the tremendous challenge she faced in teaching Helen. Helen had
received little discipline in her young life due to her physical challenges. Anne would be teaching
her student proper behavior in everyday situations along with academic lessons. After
establishing what would become a lifelong relationship, Anne began to teach Helen the alphabet
by finger spelling the sign language letters into the palm of Helen's hand. Soon, Helen recognized
the letter combinations that Anne finger spelled to her. The most challenging lesson was to help
Helen make the connection between a word and a concept. The world-changing breakthrough
happened when Anne pumped well water into one of Helen's hands while finger spelling the
word water onto her other one. At that moment, Helen understood that a word represented a
concept or a thing. From that point on, Helen had an unrelenting desire to learn. Anne continued
to work with her eager student on finger spelling. Helen soon learned how to read Braille, write,
and even started trying to speak.
Helen Keller had aspirations of going to college. She was a person who didn't allow her physical
challenges to deter her dreams. Therefore, in 1900, accompanied by Anne, Helen Keller began
taking classes at Radcliffe College. This was notable for a few reasons. For one, Helen was taking
classes alongside students who didn't share her challenges. Consequently, she had to devote
more time and attention to her studies than the average student did. Also, at that time in history,
it was still an uncommon occurrence for a woman to attend college. In 1904, Helen Keller was
awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree from Radcliffe College in 1904. She graduated with honors.
After leaving Radcliffe, Helen Keller spent the rest of her life working on behalf of blind and/or
deaf people all over the world. With Anne at her side, she went on speaking tours and wrote
articles that educated people on the significant role these individuals have in our society. Her far-
reaching work won her high honors such as the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The long line of
famous people who admired Helen began in her childhood with author Mark Twain. Alexander
Graham Bell, William James, and Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy are just a few of the others

2. who had the pleasure of meeting with Helen. Though Helen remained single and had no children,
her work with the American Foundation for the Blind allowed her to affect the lives of countless
adults and children. Among her other written works, The Story of My Life, serves as an
inspirational book for individuals both blind and sighted.
Helen Keller indeed dedicated her life to helping others. She was a writer, speaker, and advocate
with a spirit of determination known throughout the world. Her incredible life of eighty-seven
years will be celebrated for centuries to come.
My thoughts and learnings from the life Story of Helen Keller:
Helen Keller is one of the most memorable women in history. Despite being blind as well as deaf,
she learned to communicate and lived a life devoted to helping others. Her faith, determination,
and spirit helped her to accomplish far more than many people expected. In fact, she won the
admiration of famous figures from all over the world. The following offers a glimpse into the
inspirational life of Helen Keller.
The arrival of Sullivan was a turning point in Keller’s life, for she helped Keller to “see things” by
teaching her the correspondence between words and objects. Sullivan was an extraordinary
instructor and taught her reading and writing, and the two formed an intense and lasting
relationship. Sullivan’s role in Helen’s life was to provide her with hope as her dedicated
caretaker, teacher, defender, and life-long friend and companion.
Sullivan taught Keller how to communicate using sign language. This had a transformative impact
on young Keller, as it opened up a whole new world of opportunities for learning and human
connection. Her assistance, with utmost patience, gave Keller hope for a better and fuller life.
Without Sullivan, Keller would have been walled into a dark and hopeless world. In simple words,
Sullivan proved to be the “lifeline” of Keller.
She made raised letters for Keller to learn the alphabet. In her The Story of My Life (described as
“one of the most inspiring stories of our time” in this book, Keller as a young woman narrates her
own story which is “complex, poignant, and filled with love”), Keller holds Sullivan in the highest
esteem and is feels indebted to her for her enormous efforts, working far beyond expectations
and ensuring Keller’s ongoing success in everything she does. She even recalls the day when
Sullivan had arrived, describing it as the “most important day I remember in all my life.”
The first word Keller learnt was water. Sullivan taught her the word by writing the letters on the
child’s hands while water poured over them. Once Keller caught on, she made very rapid
progress. By the end of the first day, she had already learnt thirty (30) words. All of her education
helped her to communicate. She began writing for magazines, primarily about blindness, which
was uncommon at that time, as blindness was often associated with venereal diseases. She, thus,
broke down the (prevailing) barriers. Helen was also known to give lectures. Moreover, she
established an endowment for the American Foundation for the Blind and co-founded the

3. American Civil Liberties Union. Sullivan stayed with Keller until her (Sullivan’s) death in 1936.
Helen Keller died in 1968 after a series of strokes. Today, Helen Keller is not only known for her
literary contribution but also as an “American activist for the physically disabled”, who “traveled
the world over, fighting for improvement in the education and life of the physically handicapped.”
Inspiring lessons that I learnt from Keller’s life story:
I believe that good education is incomplete without good teachers. Teachers not only nurture
and inspire future generations to think and create but teach them to be loving and caring human
beings as well. This, I believe, is the primary role and responsibility of a teacher. However, the
best teachers are those who motivate, encourage and ignite the habit of self-learning,
introspection and course correction among students. In this regard, the role of teachers-as-
mentors is also personal: their lessons stay with students for a lifetime. There are some who
hesitate in opening up to their teachers. This could be because of the sheer respect the students
have for their teachers or it may be out of fear, which is normally evident in student-teacher
relationships.
Teachers do not only have to help students master the teaching material, but also to transfer
skills that will be useful in students’ personal lives. The role of a teacher is to “ignite (their)
minds”, to refine and polish their skills and potential and to make them creative, well-informed
and innovative individuals; in a word, “an asset” for the society.
I believe that we should consider the profession of teaching to be noble and sacred. I also believe
that other religions and religious traditions also hold the role and job of a teacher in high esteem.
No doubt there are many professions in the world and everyone has the right to choose theirs
according to their inclination, interest and aptitude. All professions are important for a nation’s
development, but no development, material or spiritual, is possible without the selfless services
of a teacher. All sciences, skills, arts and crafts in diverse civilizations and cultures are due to
teachers. They are rightly called as the “nation builders”.
Though a teacher, in present times, is not getting the respect and appreciation that they deserve,
but those who want to contribute to society by training the young generation, they still choose
teaching as their profession. Thus, I believe that teaching is a profession which requires great
courage and moral strength. It is because of good teachers that countries like Japan and Germany
(who faced defeat and destruction in World War II) were able to rise from the ashes. Their
teachers contributed significantly in fulfilling their national agenda and the two nations
developed not only socio-economically but in intellectual and technological aspects as well.
Every teacher deals with hundreds of students. Teachers are required to be well aware and
updated while imparting value-based education. They should not only remain abreast with the
new developments but should also keep vigil on the current situation of the country and of the
world in general. In short, they should be the source of knowledge and guidance for students.

4. The lessons given by a teacher have lasting effects on the students’ lives. I believe that nature is
our greatest teacher and I find many similarities between our teachers and nature, because we
learn many things from both in our daily life. Our teachers deserve respect and admiration and
so does nature, because both are compassionate and guide us through life. The ideas for many
inventions have come from nature. Therefore, it’s not odd to add that teachers teach us inside
the (four-walled) classroom while nature teaches us in a classroom without walls, i.e., the natural
environment. By spending some time with nature, we will be able to learn the art of spending a
happy and healthy life. There have been a number of inventions and discoveries in science and
technology that were possible through the deep insight into the “processes of Nature”. Nature
has many colours, shapes, designs, structures, shades which inspire human beings to look with
depth and discover more than what there is.
Many teachers are very creative. They adopt creative teaching methods to make clear any
complex or difficult concept for their students. A creative teacher ignites and kindles the sparks
of hidden potential and aptitude of students. A good teacher guides students to polish the
abilities and skills they possess, and generates ideas and possibilities that are useful in one form
or the other.
Teachers are the ones who motivate students to do better in every domain and help them in
achieving their goals. Through their guidance, a student knows how to differentiate between
right and wrong. Teachers, for me, are the ultimate role models in a student’s life; they must be
respected, acknowledged and appreciated for their role.
Submitted by:
Jansen Hitoshi V. Perion