Helen Adams Keller was an extraordinary woman who paved the way for deaf and blind women and men. She was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama. At 19 months old, a mysterious illness tormented her. Helen survived this sudden illness, although, as is well known, Helen was tragically left without hearing or sight. After the illness, it was very difficult for Helen to communicate with her friends and family. Helen felt like she was lost in a strange, dark world, with no one to help guide her. Helen describes it this way: “I felt like invisible hands were holding me and I made frantic efforts to free myself. » Helen's silence was broken on March 3, 1817, when Helen's teacher and former babysitter, Anne Sullivan, came to live with Helen's family. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayAnne Sullivan was a very patient woman. She is known as the only person capable of teaching young Helen. Miss Sullivan's special and unique way of teaching was to tell Helen the name of the object by spelling the word on her hand and then letting her feel the object. Helen learned words by imitation and by feeling the object. The first word Helen learns from Miss Sullivan is water. Hélène is overwhelmed with joy when she learns her first word, water. She feels like the word was a living thing and through it, her triumph is felt throughout the passage. Helen is delighted when she realizes that this water and this word have put something alive inside her. Through this experience, Helen began to quickly learn new words and a new language. Soon after, Helen learned to read books. Helen particularly enjoyed studying with Miss Sullivan outdoors, such as in the garden or deeper. They also took walks in the countryside, Helen asking questions about their surroundings and Miss Sullivan answering her questions. One of Helen's most frightening experiences occurred in the summer of 1887, when she and Miss Sullivan were having a picnic under a tree. Mrs. Sullivan went to get their lunch and told Helen to stay under the tree. However, Helen had not listened and had climbed the tree and sat on a seat on one of the branches. A sudden storm broke out when Mrs. Sullivan was out to get lunch. Helen suddenly feels the fear of being alone invade her. She wants Mrs. Sullivan to come back and get off the tree. A strong wind blows through the tree, shaking the branches and almost carrying Helen away. By the time Mrs. Sullivan returns, Helen feels safe again, having been returned to her teacher and no longer alone. The first time Helen learned her first abstract word/idea was a few days after Helen's tree incident. Helen strung beads in symmetrical groups. Helen kept making mistakes and Miss Sullivan patiently pointed out her mistakes. Helen stops for a moment to think about how she could have done better. Miss Sullivan jumps at the chance. She taps Helen's forehead and spells "Think" into Helen's hand. Helen then immediately understands that the process taking place in her head is called “thinking”. After Miss Sullivan arrived in Tuscumbia, the Christmas that followed was Helen's most memorable. She remembers her family and friends dropping large quantities of gifts everywhere, from her stockings to the table and onto the floor. Helen is amused to prepare surprises for her friends and family while they are too. Helen's favorite gift was from Mrs. Sullivan, a canary that Helen named Little Tim. Helen was delighted and described her feeling assmall cup filled with water overflowing the rim. Miss Sullivan taught her how to feed her pet and gave her a bath every morning. One day, Helene was ready to take a bath with her bird when she felt a large cat pass by her as she was heading towards little Tim's cage. Helen searched around the cage but couldn't find him. She knew she wouldn't be able to pet or bathe the bird again. It was then decided that Helen and Mrs. Sullivan should vacation in Brewster, Cape Cod. It was there that Helen discovered the sea for the first time. Helen put on her swimsuit and jumped into the water. Hélène felt ecstatic, the movement of the water delighted her. A moment later, the tide changed and Helene's foot slipped against a rock. She fell into the water and the waves pushed her back and forth. Helen was then pushed back onto dry land by the waves and rushed towards Miss Sullivan. At that moment, she felt mixed emotions, first shock, then terror, and finally fear. After Helen recovered, she demanded to know who had put salt in the water. After that, they both spent their winters in the north. Once she learned to read, Helen's next goal was to learn to speak. His teacher and countless others thought it would be extremely difficult for him to speak normally with his friends and family. In 1890, Miss Sullivan took Helen to the Horace Mann School to begin studying under Miss Sarah Fuller. Helen learned by touching the position of Miss Fuller's lips. This technique is called lip reading. After continued study with Mrs. Fuller, Helen was able to speak. In May 1888, Helen left to visit Boston, in the north. She spent her time studying at the Perkins Institute for the Blind where she developed a friendship with her teacher, Mr. Anagnos. Helen quickly made friends with the other blind girls her age. Helen was happy to be able to talk to similar children and speak to them in her own language. During the winter of 1892, Helen faced plagiarism herself. Helen wrote a story she called The Ice King and sent it to her professor at the Perkins Institute. Mr. Anagnos, a professor at Helen's Perkins Institute, decided to publish the story. It was soon discovered that Helen's story was very similar to another previously published book, called "The Frost Fairies". Helen read the original book by Margaret T. Canby and the words were ingrained in her mind, so she had unknowingly written plagiarized content. This made Helen very cautious and paranoid about what she wrote for fear of plagiarism. Whenever Helen wrote letters to her family, she was terrified that what she wrote was not her own writing and she read the lines over and over again to check if they matched her books. Helen attended the Wright-Humason School for the Deaf in 1894 and began studying subjects such as history, Latin, French, German, and arithmetic. In 1896, Helen enrolled at the Cambridge School for Young Ladies in Massachusetts. While at Cambridge, Helen studied for her university exams at Radcliffe, Harvard's "sister school" for women. Helen's teacher at Cambridge School, Mr. Gilman wanted to put Helen two years behind her class so that she could have more time to prepare for the Radcliffe exams. However, Miss Sullivan did not agree with this and there was a debate on this issue. However, Helen's mother eventually withdrew her from the Cambridge school to finish her private lessons with a private teacher because of the argument. She was successfully enrolled at Radcliffe in.