Courtney Sheinmel - She Persisted: Helen Keller

She Persisted: HARRIET TUBMAN

She Persisted: CLAUDETTE COLVIN

She Persisted: SALLY RIDE

She Persisted: VIRGINIA APGAR

She Persisted: NELLIE BLY

She Persisted: SONIA SOTOMAYOR

She Persisted: FLORENCE GRIFFITH JOYNER

She Persisted: RUBY BRIDGES

She Persisted: CLARA LEMLICH

She Persisted: MARGARET CHASE SMITH

She Persisted: MARIA TALLCHIEF

She Persisted: HELEN KELLER

She Persisted: OPRAH WINFREY

By the time Helen Keller was ten years old, people all around the world knew her storythe little girl from Tuscumbia, Alabama, who was blind and deaf, and who had learned to write and speak. Helen would later use those skills to go to college, write bestselling books, and give speeches around the world. She inspired millions of people to not let their challenges hold them back.

But before all that, Helen was an ordinary baby.

Of course, Helens parents didnt think she was ordinary. To them, she was precious and extraordinary.

Helen Keller was born on a summer day in 1880. She was a baby who started talking before she was even a year old. Here are some of the first things she said:

Tea tea tea

How dye (an informal way of saying How do you do?)

Wah-wah (Helens way of saying water)

Helen was curious and active, too. She loved the sounds of the birds and the colors of the fields and trees on her familys farm. By her first birthday, shed started to walk. Her parents marveled at all the things she could do. It was a very happy time.

Then something terrible happened. When Helen was just a year and a half old, she became sick. So sick that doctors told her parents she could die. Her body was hot with high fevers. Helens mother stayed beside her and tried to soothe away all the bad feelings.

Eventually, Helens fever broke. Her parents were grateful to know that their little girl would live. But they began to notice her life would be different. When Helens mom moved her hands in front of Helens face, Helen did not blink. When the bell rang for dinner, Helen didnt turn her head toward the sound like she used to.

Helen couldnt see her moms hands in front of her face. She couldnt hear the dinner bell. The high fevers had destroyed her hearing and her sight. She was deaf and blind.

Helens parents called the doctor again. He told them that nothing could be done. Their precious, extraordinary daughter was living in a largely dark and silent world.

Hearing kids learn to speak by listening to other people. How would Helen ever learn to speak if she couldnt hear? How would she learn to read or write if she couldnt see?

Helen herself was too young to realize the seriousness of the situation. Soon, she forgot things had ever been different. She came up with her own signs to communicate without wordshead shakes meant no, and nods meant yes. Pulls meant come, and pushes meant go. Helen pretended to cut and butter bread when that was what she wanted to eat. If she wanted ice cream, shed move her hands like she was using the freezer and shed shiver as if cold.

Helen couldnt see things with her eyes, so she felt with her hands. She ran her fingers over her mothers clothes. She could tell by the style and texture whether her mom was dressed to go out, or whether shed be staying in. By the time Helen was five years old, she could fold the laundry and knew how to tell which clothes were her own.

She also figured out what a key was and how to use it. Unfortunately, she once used this skill to lock her mother in the pantry! Her mother was trapped for three hours!

When Helen reached up to her parents and friends faces, she could feel their mouths moving as they spoke. She noticed they didnt need signs and signals when they wanted something. Helen tried moving her lips, too. But she didnt have the words to communicate. Even when she used her hand signals, her parents couldnt always tell what she was trying to say.