A Blind Woman's Vision

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A Blind Woman's Vision

She fought for women’s rights, crusaded for the causes of workers, promoted equality for minorities, and championed the underprivileged and the oppressed. She also earned several prestigious awards from countries as diverse as Japan, Brazil, and Lebanon. An impressive list of achievements for any human, all this was accomplished by a woman who was blind and deaf.

Helen Keller was born a healthy child in 1880 in Alabama. Stricken by illness at the tender age of nineteen months, Helen lost her ability to see, hear, and speak. Growing up unable to comprehend the world around her, Helen became wild and unruly, until her parents found help.

They contacted Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, the famous inventor and teacher of the deaf, who introduced them to an institute for the blind in Boston, Massachusetts. A student there, Annie Sullivan, was asked to help. Annie would later become known as the “Miracle Worker.”

Annie Sullivan taught Helen how to connect objects with letters by spelling words into Helen’s hands. Helen’s breakthrough came when Annie held her hand under a water pump while spelling “water” into her other hand repeatedly. Helen suddenly understood, and from then on progressed by leaps and bounds.

Having mastered both the manual and Braille alphabets, Helen became proficient in reading and writing, and began learning how to speak in 1890. Helen entered Radcliffe College and, assisted by Annie Sullivan, graduated cum laude in 1904. She was the first blind-deaf person ever to graduate from college.

Helen Keller spent the rest of her life as a writer, lecturer, and advocate for the deaf and blind and other disadvantaged groups. She traveled to numerous countries on behalf of the disabled, and founded the Helen Keller Endowment Fund for the American Foundation for the Blind in 1930. She died on June 1, 1968, an outstanding example of the unconquerable human spirit.


海伦·凯勒─奋斗的人

她为女权而战、投身工人事业、促进弱势团体平等权利、支持受苦和受压迫的人。她还荣获日本、巴西、黎巴嫩等国颁发的几项荣誉奖。对任何人来说，这都是给人印象深刻的成就，然而这是由一位双眼失明双耳失聪的女人取得的。

1880年，海伦·凯勒在美国的阿拉巴马州出生时是个健康的孩子。可在她19个月大时，她得了一场大病，海伦从此失去了视觉、听觉和说话的能力。在成长的过程中，她无法了解周围的一切，变得狂躁而难以管教，最后她的父母只好求助于他人。

他们和著名的发明家、聋哑教师亚力山大·贝尔博士取得联系之后，被介绍到一家位于马萨诸塞州波士顿的盲人机构。该机构的学生安妮·苏利文应邀提供帮助。她就是后来那位著名的“奇迹创造者”。

苏利文在海伦手上拼字，借此教她如何将物体和字母联系在一起。有一次安妮把海伦的手放在水泵出水口下，并且在她的另一支手上重复拼写 water 的时候，海伦突然明白了，她的学习有了重大突破。从此她进步神速。

海伦在学会了手指拼字法和布莱耶盲人点字法后，她的阅读和书写能力变得熟练起来；1890年，她开始学习说话。后来海伦在苏利文的帮助下，进入拉德克利夫 (Radcliffe) 学院就读，1904年以优异的成绩毕业，她成为第一位大学毕业的盲哑人。

海伦·凯勒的余生都致力于写作和演讲，声援盲人、聋人和其他弱势群体。她代表残疾人，足迹踏遍海外各国，并且在1930年为美国盲人基金会创建了海伦·凯勒捐赠基金。海伦·凯勒于1968年6月1日与世长辞，她可以说是人类不屈不挠精神的最佳典范。