Frances Wilson, age 14, of Jackson, Miss., for her question:
WHO WAS HELEN KELLER?
Helen Keller is an outstanding example of a person who conquered physical handicaps. Before she was 2 years old, a serious illness destroyed her sight and hearing. Because of this, she was unable to speak and was entirely shut off from the world.
But Helen Keller rose above her disabilities to become internationally famous and to help thousands of handicapped persons to live fuller lives.
When Helen was almost 7, Dr. Alexander Graham Bell suggested to her father that he contact the Perkins Institution for the Blind in Boston. That organization sent a young teacher named Anne Sullivan.
Anne Sullivan was able to make contact with the girl's mind through the sense of touch. She worked out a type of alphabet by which she spelled out words on Helen's hand. Gradually, the child was able to connect words with objects.
Once Helen understood, her progress was rapid. Within three years she knew the alphabet and could read and write in Braille. A special typewriter was made for her on which she did all her writing.
Until she was 10 years old, Helen could talk only with the sign language of the deaf mute. She decided she would learn to speak and took lessons from a teacher of the deaf.
By the time she was 16, Helen could speak well enough to go to preparatory school and college. She went to Radcliffe and was graduated from that school in 1904 at the age of 24.
Anne Sullivan stayed with Helen Keller through all of the school years, interpreting lectures and class discussions to her.
After college, Helen became concerned with the conditions of blind and deaf blind. She became active on the staffs of many important educational organizations and also appeared before legislatures, gave lectures and wrote books and articles.
Through the years, Helen became especially interested in bettering conditions for the blind in underdeveloped and war ravaged countries. An enthusiastic and untiring traveler, she lectured in their behalf in more than 25 countries on the five major continents.
During World War II Helen worked with soldiers who had been blinded in the war. Wherever she appeared, she brought new courage to millions of blind people.
She started the Helen Keller Endowment Fund which also helped many handicapped people.
Helen Kelley's books have been translated into more than 50 languages. They include "The Story of My Life," "The World I Live In," "The Song of the Stone Wall," "Out of the Dark," "My Religion" and "Mainstream: My Later Life."
The play and motion picture "The Miracle Worker" told how Anne Sullivan made contact with Helen Kelley through the sense of touch. Helen's story has also been told a number of times in television plays.
Helen Kelley died in 1968 at the age of 88.