What illness did Helen Keller have at birth?
Born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, on June 27, 1880, Helen Keller was a normal, healthy baby until she contracted an unknown illness. It is conjectured that she either had Rubella (German measles) or Scarlet Fever or meiningitis; from the illness she was left deaf and blind. Of course, because she was born in the day and time that she was, there were no vaccines and fewer ways to combat such diseases.
As a consequence of her darkness and isolation from the sights and sounds of her world, Helen became unruly, although she did have some homemade signs that her family understood. In 1886, her mother searched for some help, and recalling something she had read in a work by Charles Dickens, had her husband seek the advice of J. Julian Chisolm, a Baltimore eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist. He, in turn, referred the Kellers to Alexander Graham Bell, who worked...
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with others at the Perkins Institute for the Blind, where one of Chisolm's pupils had been successfully educated. It was from this institute that 20-year old Anne Sullivan came to the Keller's home to instruct Helen.
Helen Keller has been an inspiration to the visually and hearing impaired as well as many others. She was undaunted in her quest for knowledge, even graduating from Radcliffe. Often quoted, this statement of Helen Keller's certainly expresses her philosophy of life:
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.
What illness did Helen Keller have and how did it affect her as a child?
According to the first chapter of her autobiography, Helen Keller was suddenly struck with an "acute congestion of the stomach and brain." Modern medical experts have speculated that this illness was likely to have been scarlet fever or meningitis, although it is impossible to be certain.
Helen was only in her second year of life when she became ill. Up to this point, she had been a normal, healthy baby. She could walk and talk, and interact with the world around her.
However, the experience of being sick had a dramatic impact on Helen's life, as we see from the following quote:
Then, in the dreary month of February, came the illness which closed my eyes and ears and plunged me into the unconsciousness of a new-born baby.
In other words, this illness robbed Helen of her sight and hearing, as well as the independence that she had just begun to develop.
In addition, in the next paragraph, Helen talks about the "agony" and "bewilderment" which this illness created. Helen spent all of her waking hours in considerable pain, as well as suffering from "dry" and "hot" eyes. Despite her best efforts, Helen's mother was unable to soothe her daughter's pain or save her sight and hearing.
Fortunately, this illness disappeared as quickly as it came. Helen, however, would never regain her sight or hearing.
Based on Helen Keller's autobiography, was her life happy before she fell ill?
The name Helen Keller is associated with a hugely influential woman. It seems almost ironic that she has such a loud "voice" when it comes to facing challenges, recognizing them, accepting them and never using them as an excuse for failure. As a blind and deaf child, Helen met with many frustrations in her attempt to communicate. Having lost her sight and hearing whilst she was still a baby - at 19 months- and before she could even claim to have a vocabulary- Helen, faced several years of loneliness before Ann Sullivan arrived.
However, Helen recounts her fond memories of her home and particularly the garden which "was the paradise of my childhood". Helen was too young to remember much and it is more related to her "sense" of belonging; her ability to still find her way around her garden after her illness as recounted by her that
I recognized it by its leaves and blossoms, and knew it was the vine which covered the tumble-down summer-house at the farther end of the garden!
and her ability to somehow understand the extent of her family's efforts to help her after her illness and how her parents strived to find solutions, that allow the reader to appreciate the family environment she must have enjoyed before her illness.
Helen Keller's autobiographical account , The Story of My Life, allows readers insight into what could so easily have become a world of darkness and desperation, without hope. The most important day of Helen's life was the day Anne Sullivan arrived at her home.
Helen is acutely aware of how different her life could have been without supportive parents and associations with gifted individuals who served to improve her life and offer her opportunities which she was only to glad and ready to embrace. Helen defied reason and, despite seemingly dismal prospects, was able to rise above her desperate circumstances.
One of the reasons why Helen became the person she became was because of her family life before her illness, as supported by her own words. Helen actively recounts her childhood experiences. It is because of the security she felt and the, fortunately, well-entrenched relationship with her parents - despite being struck-down so young- that she developed into a well-rounded, successful individual. Helen's parents knew their child and therefore they recognized that her behavior after the illness was symptomatic of her frustrations at her inability to now communicate as before. Helen's mother could have so easily have sent Anne Sullivan away as Anne's relationship with Helen seemed to be everything to Helen but, her dedication to the daughter she knew Helen could become and her insight into the happy child she was before, allowed her to selflessly put Helen's needs above her own.
Helen's parents went out of their way to find answers and to ease Helen's suffering at every opportunity which is why she was exposed to such amazing and life-altering individuals such as Anne Sullivan and Dr Alexander Graham Bell. Inventing a contraption (the telephone) that would be forever out of Helen's grasp reveals an irony that fortunately has a happy ending!
Do you think Helen Keller had a happy childhood in her autobiography The Story of My Life?
In describing Helen Keller's childhood, it would be a fair judgment to say that she did in fact have a happy childhood, in terms of The Story of My Life but even she expresses her own reservations about "lifting the veil that clings about my childhood like a golden mist" (ch1) perhaps in case it uncovers unpleasant memories that are more than she can bear and which "the shadows of the prison-house" preclude her from remembering at this point. Like any recollections of the past, it is an overall perspective and, especially in Helen's case, does not exclude many heart-wrenching occurrences.
Helen Keller uses vivid descriptions in The Story of My Life and draws the reader in to a place where the sense of touch provides most of the stimulation. It is obvious that Helen uses all her opportunities as part of her learning curve and this is what gives her that unfailing drive and determination as she learns "from life itself."(Ch 7) Even small things are remembered if they contribute to her development and the negative impact is soon replaced by enthusiasm in "the excitement of great discoveries." (Ch 1)
The garden is "the paradise of my childhood" and often the place to where Helen retreats after another temper tantrum, caused by her frustration at not being able to communicate effectively. "These outbursts occurred daily, sometimes hourly." Ch 3). Helen knows she is not the most pleasant child,but recognizes "the wordless cry of my soul"(ch 4) as her need to communicate. Even when Annie Sullivan comes who "was to set my spirit free" (ch 1) Helen is often unkind but "neither sorrow nor regret" (ch 4) pervades her existence and she is able to move on, not recalling punishment or any steps taken to prevent her or discourage her behavior.
The fact that Helen recounts many events that may have incurred punishment but does not recall any form of punishment also shows that her childhood must have been "happy" because others mostly seem to distract her and involve her in other activities, after any nasty incidents, which ensure Helen is able to "hop and skip with pleasure." (Ch 4)
It is typical of Helen Keller's outlook to find the positive from anything and her childhood which must have had many traumatic elements is transformed into a, sometimes idyllic, memory.