Women's History Month: Helen Keller & Anne Sullivan

I happened upon Helen Keller & Anne Sullivan's story before I learned about them in school. And it was by reading a book that I learned their story. I remember trying incessantly to comprehend the logic they used behind taking Helen for a long drive to a neighboring house so that she wouldn't consider to run away as Anne Sullivan worked with her. I also remember being confused by her father & his role in her life as well as his role within his family unit; he seemed quite separated & distant & I was too young to grasp that part of the storyline.

My first memories of learning of Helen in school were in the fourth grade. I can actually recall a visual of my fourth grade teacher explaining how Anne Sullivan would write on Helen's hand. My teacher never spoke of it, never explained their communication as sign language, yet I believe that in some ways it's sort of a language of signs all its own.

It greatly impressed my young mind that this little girl, who couldn't see or hear, had to manage through life & figure out how to communicate & then how to understand Anne Sullivan, trust her & then learn how to relate to the world via her.

A thing I learned about Helen Keller later on, around the time I'd have been in high school, was how she learned to interact with others as an adult. That when she'd be introduced to someone, she'd hold out her hand to shake theirs, yet as she didn't know of their height, Helen would hold her hand out kind of in a general area & the other person would bring their clasped hands into the correct location as they shook hands. Whomever I learned this from mentioned that Helen never forgot in the next times meeting that same person at exactly what level, or height, her hand should be in order to correctly shake their hand. What a transformation! What a gift!

Patty Duke & Anne Bancroft star in the original "Miracle Worker" available on Amazon Instant Video & DVD. There's now a more recent version (2000) on Amazon Instant Video starring Hallie Kate Eisenberg as Helen Keller & Alison Elliot as Anne Sullivan. This is the version I watched a few times in grade school. As I was already very familiar with the story, I would have watched this movie as one watches an episode of a television show that they've already seen. And Kindle offers a few reading options for free. Of course, there's plenty of paperback & hardback books on Helen Keller's story too.