How to do the helen keller dance

In Lyrics

By Artist

by Album

Year:

Decade1930's1940's1950's1960's1970's1980's1990's2000's2010's2020's

Search type:Within LyricsLyrics Exact MatchTitles Exact Match

Filter by gender:

Artists:

Albums:

Lyrics:

English Lesson

Nobuko Miyamoto

CAN'T TALK, CAN'T SEE, CAN'T HEAR CAN'T TALK, CAN'T SEE, CAN'T HEAR I DREAMT I WAS HELEN KELLER LAST NIGHT I DREAMT I WAS HELEN KELLER LAST

Helen Keller [Bonus Track]

DJ Khaled

Suffering From Success [Best Buy Exclusive]

2013

on some things
 Getting my weight up
 I'm Helen Keller to the hate
 I'm sayin', "What?, what?, what?"
 I'm shakin' up the game, trying to test my luck

Helen Keller

Jibba Da Don

shit out Vision impaired, Helen Keller Can't see these niggas money in the way Can't hear a thang, niggas muted by paper chase This ain't Tadoma ion

Story Teller

Nahseem

hear me I showed em' they can't see it These type of niggas you can't help em' call em' Helen Keller's (Damn. ..uh) Just tell the story, story teller (Uh,

helen cried!

Gvnmcgr

Helen cried Couldn't hear it even if she tried So she went to go and get a snack Ahhh then it hit her she was seeing black Helen Keller Her vision

Don't Trust Me

3OH!3

Want [Bonus Track]

2008

never leave me (whoa, whoa, oh, oh)
 
 Don't trust a ho
 Never trust a ho
 'Cause a hoe won't trust me
 
 Shush girl shut your lips
 Do the Helen Keller

Before Nightfall

Khaos Ky

Watchu think that I been blind like Helen Keller Why you got some shit you gotta say But still can't tell her Spinning all them thoughts inside yo

Stephen Hawking

Custodian

just go blind Stephen Hawking, Helen Keller Yeah we on that grind Got so much gold in my pocket See it how I'm walking Bitch I need to keep a chair Just

Top Floor Marquis

Dotwav Media

Cinderella, but no Rats on Me (ON ME) Racks? I put them in the LLC (LLC) Helen Keller, Bullshit I don't See (Bullshit I don't see) Big Umbrella, but the Drip

Mozzarella

Bling Bling Boys

Now i'm starting to feel like Helen Keller 'Cus i cant tell which one is better better Mozzarella mozzarella and the cheddar Mozzarella mozzarella

Prayer

Clyde Cyrus

I said a prayer for my nemesis Best believe he gone need that Helen Keller to the criticism I can't even listen to ya feedback. . I'm getting richer

Helen Keller Never Saw This Coming

Pfft.

Helen Keller She died of natural causes How did she do that? No one could predict that Never saw it coming Helen Keller Odds stacked against her

Kelly Surf

McSxorpio

to find my way Y'all just be talkin' yall really be wasting the day Helen Keller I cannot see what you saying or give a fuck what you gon' say I'm trying

Come Here

Leway Gutter

that gas out somewhere Act like you can't see me like Helen Keller Me and my niggas so unfair Gutter for life no other Other She wanna play wit my lit

Donttrustme

3OH!3

Want [Bonus Tracks]

2008

the Helen Keller and talk with your hips. I said shush girl, shut your lips. Do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips. I said shush girl, shut your lips.

Don't Trust Me

3OH!3

Want

2008

never leave me (whoa, whoa, oh, oh)
 
 Don't trust a ho
 Never trust a ho
 'Cause a hoe won't trust me
 
 Shush girl shut your lips,
 Do the Helen Keller

Helen Keller

2% Reese

Helen Keller is a myth yo Dripped out need an umbrella Diamonds blinding Helen Keller Never gon' switch up on the gang they my fellas yea Better not

The Mandela Paradox

Helen Keller Death Kick

When Helen Keller choked a bloke He was a lucky fella When Helen Keller choked a bloke He was a lucky fella Buster Keaton beat his meat Inside

Can't Wait (feat. Femo Mvny)

Bryceprod

a whole O and ion even remember It ain't bout money I go Helen Keller Always been real ain't never been a teller Tried to get 8 bands from a teller She was

Ballerina (feat. Dewhaun)

Yung Goo

I'm gone stack my bread up like I'm Sara Lee A bitch was tryna fuck with me, Helen Keller I cannot see you Running through your city, kickin' doors like

S T A R

Underworld

Captain Hook with a chalice
 I spy Calvin Harris
 Calvin Harris interstellar
 I spy Helen Keller
 Helen Keller is a star
 S-T-A-R (S-T-A)
 S-T-A-R (S-T-A)

Helen Keller

Yung Siah

the pain in To make up for the days that it was raining I will never fold and all my brudas neva breaking Call em Helen Keller they ain't hearing what I'm

Made It!

Yn Solo

like a feather I was blind couldn't see Helen Keller With the gang bro just shout out the fellas Don't need no shoes but you know I'm a stepper Imma keep

Pain Game

PG Mizzle

it better I don’t ever wine even though I’m from the cellar Niggas say “I see you boy” but they lying, Helen Keller I don't ever wine even though I'm

12345678910»14

12345»14

We need you!

Help build the largest human-edited lyrics collection on the web!

The Web's Largest Resource for

Music, Songs & Lyrics

A Member Of The STANDS4 Network

Search for song lyrics by

Genres »

Styles »

Select a song styleAboriginalAbstractAcidAcid HouseAcid JazzAcid RockAcousticAfricanAfro-CubanAfro-Cuban JazzAfrobeatAlternative RockAmbientAndalusian ClassicalAORAppalachian MusicArena RockArt RockAudiobookAvant-garde JazzAvantgardeAxéBachataBalladBaltimore ClubBaroqueBass MusicBasslineBatucadaBayou FunkBeatBeatboxBeguineBerlin-SchoolBhangraBig BandBig BeatBlack MetalBluegrassBlues RockBoleroBollywoodBongo FlavaBoogalooBoogieBoogie WoogieBoom BapBopBossa NovaBossanovaBounceBrass BandBreakbeatBreakcoreBreaksBrit PopBritcoreBroken BeatBubblegumCajunCalypsoCandombeCanzone NapoletanaCape JazzCelticCha-ChaChacareraChamaméChampetaChansonCharangaChicago BluesChillwaveChiptuneChoralClassic RockClassicalColdwaveComedyCompasConjuntoConsciousContemporaryContemporary JazzContemporary R&BCool JazzCoplaCorridoCountryCountry BluesCountry RockCrunkCrustCuatroCubanoCumbiaCut-up/DJDance-popDancehallDanzonDark AmbientDarkwaveDeath MetalDeathcoreDeathrockDeep HouseDeep TechnoDelta BluesDescargaDialogueDiscoDixielandDJ Battle ToolDonkDoo WopDoom MetalDowntempoDream PopDroneDrum n BassDubDub PoetryDub TechnoDubstepEarlyEast Coast BluesEasy ListeningEBMEducationEducationalElectric BluesElectroElectro HouseElectroclashEmoEtherealEuro HouseEuro-DiscoEurobeatEurodanceEuropopExperimentalFadoField RecordingFlamencoFolkFolk MetalFolk RockForróFree FunkFree ImprovisationFree JazzFreestyleFuneral Doom MetalFunkFunk MetalFusionFuture JazzG-FunkGabberGangstaGarage HouseGarage RockGhettoGhetto HouseGhettotechGlamGlitchGo-GoGoa TranceGogoGoregrindGospelGoth RockGothic MetalGrimeGrindcoreGrungeGuaguancóGuajiraGuarachaGypsy JazzHands UpHappy HardcoreHard BeatHard BopHard HouseHard RockHard TechnoHard TranceHardcoreHardcore Hip-HopHardstyleHarmonica BluesHarsh Noise WallHeavy MetalHi NRGHighlifeHillbillyHindustaniHip HopHip-HouseHiplifeHonky TonkHorrorcoreHouseHyphyIDMIllbientImpressionistIndian ClassicalIndie PopIndie RockIndustrialInstrumentalInterviewItalo HouseItalo-DiscoItalodanceJ-popJazz-FunkJazz-RockJazzdanceJazzy Hip-HopJump BluesJumpstyleJungleJunkanooK-popKaraokeKlezmerKrautrockKwaitoLaïkóLambadaLatinLatin JazzLeftfieldLight MusicLo-FiLouisiana BluesLoungeLovers RockMakinaMaloyaMamboMarchesMariachiMarimbaMath RockMedievalMelodic Death MetalMelodic HardcoreMemphis BluesMerengueMetalcoreMiami BassMilitaryMinimalMinimal TechnoMinneapolis SoundMizrahiModModalModernModern ClassicalModern Electric BluesMonologMouth MusicMovie EffectsMPBMusic HallMusicalMusique ConcrèteNeo SoulNeo-ClassicalNeo-RomanticNeofolkNew AgeNew BeatNew Jack SwingNew WaveNo WaveNoiseNordicNorteñoNoveltyNu MetalNu-DiscoNueva CancionNueva TrovaNursery RhymesOiOperaOperettaOttoman ClassicalP. FunkPachangaPacificParodyPersian ClassicalPiano BluesPiedmont BluesPipe & DrumPlenaPoetryPoliticalPolkaPop PunkPop RapPop RockPorroPost BopPost RockPost-HardcorePost-ModernPost-PunkPower ElectronicsPower MetalPower PopProg RockProgressive BreaksProgressive HouseProgressive MetalProgressive TrancePromotionalPsy-TrancePsychedelicPsychedelic RockPsychobillyPub RockPublic BroadcastPublic Service AnnouncementPunkQuechuaRadioplayRaggaRagga HipHopRagtimeRaïRancheraReggaeReggae GospelReggae-PopReggaetonReligiousRenaissanceRhythm & BluesRhythmic NoiseRnB/SwingRock & RollRock OperaRockabillyRocksteadyRomaniRomanticRoots ReggaeRumbaRune SingingSalsaSambaSchlagerScoreScrewSea ShantiesShoegazeSkaSkiffleSludge MetalSmooth JazzSocaSoft RockSonSon MontunoSoneroSoukousSoulSoul-JazzSound ArtSoundtrackSouthern RockSpace RockSpace-AgeSpeechSpeed GarageSpeed MetalSpeedcoreSpoken WordSteel BandStoner RockStorySurfSwamp PopSwingSwingbeatSymphonic RockSynth-popSynthwaveTangoTech HouseTech TranceTechnicalTechnoTejanoTexas BluesThemeThrashThug RapTranceTrapTribalTribal HouseTrip HopTropical HouseTrovaTurntablismUK GarageVallenatoVaporwaveViking MetalVocalVolksmusikWestern SwingWitch HouseYé-YéZoukZydeco

Browse Lyrics.

#ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Quiz

Are you a music master?

»

"I kissed a girl and I liked it, the taste of her ____________"

• A. felt like plastic

• B. was like crabstick

• C. cherry chapstick

• D. berry chapstick

Free, no signup required:

Add to Chrome

Get instant explanation for any lyrics that hits you anywhere on the web!

Free, no signup required:

Add to Firefox

Get instant explanation for any acronym or abbreviation that hits you anywhere on the web!

The incredible story of Helen Keller: she became the first deaf-blind person to receive a college degree

Helen Keller was born a healthy child, but lost the ability to hear and speak at the age of one. However, this did not stop her from graduating from college and becoming a writer. She was a symbol of struggle for people with disabilities, lived a long life and was the first in the United States to have dogs of the Akita Inu breed.

Just one short spring

In the 19th century, the Keller estate was located in the small town of Tuscumbia in northern Alabama. The estate was quite small, but very beautiful. Over the long years of existence, dark green ivy has tightly braided all the walls of the dwelling, leaving only tiny gaps around the windows. Clusters of grapes and bright buds of climbing roses squeezed through the thick layer of foliage.

Ivy wrapped not only the house, but also the fence and even the extension that the head of the family, Arthur Keller, built after the Civil War. Violets and lilies of the valley bloomed nearby. In the garden one could find one of the earliest berries - sweet and sour honeysuckle. And the snow-white clematis filled all the space where the ivy could not get through. All this beauty was watched by Arthur's wife, Kat Adams. There was a whole family plantation here.

On June 27, 1880, silence and idyll broke in the garden. The Kellers had a girl named Helen, who from the first cry began to show who is now in charge. She was a storm and a thunderstorm that grabbed and demolished everything in its path and demanded a lot of attention. At six months, she loudly asked for a drink: “Tea, tea, tea!” And four years later I learned to run confidently.

When her parents did something against her will, the girl ran to the garden. She found solace in floral scents and loved to play with the morning dew. “Those happy days did not last long. Just one short spring, ringing with the chirping of bullfinches and mockingbirds, just one summer, generous with fruits and roses, just one red-gold autumn, ”Helen later writes in her book.

Curiosity, fear and anger

The following February, Helen collapsed with a fever. For three weeks, the parents brought down their daughter's fever every day, but nothing helped. The doctor diagnosed a strong rush of blood to the brain and stomach and told the parents that if the temperature did not subside, the girl would not survive. He advised Arthur and Kat to say goodbye to their daughter.

One day the disease receded as suddenly as it had begun, but left behind consequences that changed the girl's life - Helen lost her sight and hearing. “Gradually, I got used to the darkness and silence that surrounded me, and I forgot that once everything was different.” She stopped talking because she couldn't remember how the words sounded.

At first Helen did not understand how to communicate with other people and objects. She did not know what was edible and what was not. How do you explain to your mother that she wants ice cream? And how to understand in general which of all family members and servants in the house is her mother?

In a few weeks the girl looked like a Mowgli child. She made frightening lowing and growling sounds, screamed, and often fell into hysterics. She stopped combing her hair, did not allow herself to be washed, and flatly refused to use cutlery. Helen herself recalls that at that time she was overwhelmed with three feelings: curiosity, fear and anger.

The girl's parents could not find a way to approach her. The only thing they managed to explain to Helen was their presence. Mom always put her hand on her cheek, and her father put glasses on the bridge of her nose. This calmed her for a while and gave her a sense of security.

By the age of 5, the girl became uncontrollable, and even a few servants could not pacify her. The situation was greatly aggravated when Helen's younger sister was born. The girl noticed that little attention was paid to her. Once, in a fit of anger, she locked her mother in a closet for three hours. This prompted the spouses to the idea of ​​sending the child to a boarding school.

“As I grew up, the desire to express myself grew. The few signs I used became less and less suited to my needs, and the inability to explain what I wanted was accompanied by outbursts of rage. I felt some invisible hands holding me, and I made desperate efforts to free myself. I fought. Not that these wallowing helped, but the spirit of resistance was very strong in me. Usually I ended up bursting into tears, and everything ended in complete exhaustion.

If my mother happened to be around at that moment, I crawled into her arms, too unhappy to remember the cause of the storm that had passed. After a while, the need for new ways to communicate with others became so urgent that outbursts of anger were repeated every day, and sometimes every hour.

By some lucky chance, Kat read in Charles Dickens' American Notes the story of the deaf-blind Laura Bridgman, who learned to live comfortably and understand other people. The girl's mother decided to try to find Helen a teacher.

Kicked and screamed to the point of exhaustion

At the same time, Arthur heard about the miraculous Baltimore optometrist. For his sake, he decided to go on his first train journey with the whole family. But the meeting with the doctor was not successful. He couldn't do anything, and neither could the next doctor he recommended. The Keller family fell into a medical funnel from which it was impossible to get out. All the doctors advised each other, it took a lot of time and effort, but did not give any result.

When her parents were ready to give up, Arthur got the contact of the director of the Perkins Institute in Boston, who could advise the girl on a good teacher. And it worked. In the summer of 1886, when Helen was 6 years old, Miss Sullivan promised that she would visit the family in a year.

“I don't remember when I first realized that I was different from other people, but I'm sure it happened before my teacher arrived. I noticed that my mother and my friends do not use signs, as I do, when they want to communicate something to each other. They spoke with their mouths. Sometimes I stood between two interlocutors and touched their lips. However, I could not understand anything, and I was annoyed. I also moved my lips and gesticulated frantically, but to no avail. At times it made me so angry that I kicked and screamed to the point of exhaustion.

On March 7, 1887, there was an unusual bustle at the Keller estate from early morning, everyone was preparing for something. Helen ran to her mother, touched the hem of her skirt and realized that she was wearing an outfit for special occasions. The girl went out onto the porch, sat down and waited to see what would happen. After some time, the girl heard steps and extended her hand to her mother. But it turned out not to be her, but the very long-awaited teacher who was only 14 years older than the girl herself.

Miss Sullivan gave Helen a doll and slowly wrote the word on her palm. The child thought it funny that the woman was tapping something on her hand. She decided to repeat after her. “I did not understand that I was spelling a word, and even what it meant; I just, like a monkey, folded my fingers and forced them to imitate what I felt.

And that was one of the teacher's most difficult tasks - to explain that she was tapping out not some kind of rhythm, but words with which the girl would be able to communicate.

"Everything in the world has a name!"

The next day, Miss Sullivan began to introduce Helen to the world again. She took her hand and put it under the stream of water, tapping her fingers on the girl's palm: "V-o-d-a." She put two dolls on her knees, tapping out: "K-u-k-l-a."

“I left the well full of zeal for learning. Everything in the world has a name! Each new name gave rise to a new thought! On the way back, every object I touched pulsated with life. This happened because I saw everything with some strange new vision that I had just acquired.

As Helen learned new words, so did her view of the world. The teacher took her to the family garden and tapped the names of flowers on her hand, let her touch them, explained how birds build nests and plants grow out of the ground.

The girl fell in love with walking in the garden again. When she was hot (which is how Helen felt good weather and sunshine), she would inhale the scent of various garden flowers and ask the teacher to have breakfast on the tree. There, the girl asked many questions about the structure of the world. This went on for several years.

Then, when the girl's vocabulary was full enough for her to express herself freely and carry on a conversation, the teacher began to teach Helen to write. To do this, she cut out raised letters from cardboard. The child immediately understood what was happening, and this activity became his favorite game. What could not be said about mathematics. Addition and subtraction caused Helen outbursts of anger, with which she lived until she met the teacher. At the same time, Miss Sullivan never put pressure on the girl. She turned every lesson into an interesting game. The study of numbers was the weaving of a bracelet of beads, botany was taught through planting flowers, and zoology was taught through a gift of a canary, which had to be learned to care for.

In May 1888, Helen visited the Institute for the Blind for the first time. There she met many children who also knew how to tap their thoughts on their palms.

From that moment on, the girl began to feel like a full-fledged member of society. She could communicate using the manual alphabet, read and write. She made many friends. Parents began to take Helen with them on trips, because the girl stopped throwing tantrums. And Miss Sullivan was always there and tapped out everything that happened around her.

"I'm not silent anymore!"

When Helen was 10 years old, she learned about the deaf-blind Norwegian Ragnhild Kaat, who learned to speak. This became her new goal.

On March 26, 1890, Helen went to the headmistress of the Horace Mann School and began the first class. The lessons were based on the fact that Miss Sarah Fuller gave the girl to touch the position of the tongue and throat when making a particular sound, and Helen had to try to repeat.

In eleven sessions, Helen learned to speak as much as possible. She could speak some words, but she stuttered badly. An unadapted person could not make out her speech. Therefore, her teacher, Miss Sullivan, continued to study with her at home, so that the girl could learn to speak basic sentences and explain her needs.

“My job was to practice, practice, practice. Fatigue and despondency often oppressed me, but the next moment the thought that soon I would get home and show my family what I had achieved urged me on. I passionately imagined their joy at my success: “Now my sister will understand me!” This thought was stronger than all obstacles. In ecstasy, I repeated again and again: “I am no longer silent!” I was amazed at how much easier it turned out to speak, and not draw signs with my fingers.

Student years

In 1891, Helen became involved in a scandal. She wrote the story "King Frost" and sent it as a gift to one of her teachers, Mr. Anagnos, at the Perkins Institute for the Blind. The teacher liked the gift so much that he published it in a magazine. And a few days later it turned out that a story with such a plot already exists and its author is Margaret Canby. Helen was accused of plagiarism.

Miss Sullivan confirmed that the girl made up the story in front of her, which she had no intention of copying. Most likely, Helen was in such euphoria from the ability to speak that she had an attack of cryptomnesia - a state when a person is poorly oriented between dreams and reality. The girl could confuse the story she read with her own ideas and thoughts.

Anyway, because of the scandal, the relationship with the principal of the school was damaged. Helen was forced to study from home. Her parents paid for her tutors who came to the family estate. Helen began to learn French and German. She dreamed of reading the fables of Lafontaine and The Imaginary Sick in the original, and she succeeded.

In 1894, Helen entered the Wright-Humason School, but only studied there for two years. Then she transferred to the Cambridge School for Young Ladies. Autumn 1900, a 20-year-old girl became a student at Radcliffe College. The tycoon Henry Rogers paid for her education at the request of Helen's friend Mark Twain, whom she met in 1895 at a dinner in New York. Twain's daughter was the same age as Helen, the writer became a lifelong friend of the girl. She recognized him by his smell because Twain was a heavy smoker.

Helen's student life was not easy, because not all teachers were ready to work with people with disabilities. They were dictating too quickly, and Miss Sullivan could only tap out part of it. And since the girl's hands were busy reading the manual alphabet, she could not write anything down. She had to restore everything from memory in the evening. She typed homework and tests on a typewriter.

In college, Helen developed left-wing political views. She fought for the rights of workers and suffragettes. As a student, she wrote the book "The Story of My Life", which many years later became a bestseller and was translated into 50 languages.

Farewell to Miss Sullivan

Helen graduated from college in 1904. She became the first deaf-blind person to graduate with a bachelor's degree. In the same year, the girl married socialist and Harvard teacher John Macy. And she joined the Socialist Party. This provoked a wave of negativity. Helen ceased to be associated with Americans with a sweet girl who managed to achieve a lot. Now she was an object of ridicule and harassment.

To get rid of unnecessary public attention and regain her inspiration, the girl went to live in a remote village with Miss Sullivan and her husband. There, Helen wrote the books The World I Live in, The Song of the Stone Wall, and Out of the Darkness, gave her first interview, and joined the Industrial Workers of the World. In 1914, she separated from her husband, but the wife's divorce was never formalized.

Helen actively broadcast her political views and lectured around the country, because this was the only way for her to earn money. Books did not bring her a penny. During the First World War, Helen took up anti-war activities. A little later, she publicly supported Lenin's policy.

Miss Sullivan died in 1936. The writer took this loss hard, because no other person in the world could tap everything that happened around her so quickly on her palms.

“I cannot explain the special sympathy with which Miss Sullivan treated my amusements and whims. Perhaps this was the result of her long association with the blind. To this was added her amazing ability for vivid and lively descriptions, ”wrote Helen.

After the death of the teacher, Helen traveled around the country alone and lectured. She had a secretary who helped her deal with finances. But he could not communicate with a woman as freely as Miss Sullivan did.

A symbol of struggle and opportunity

During World War II, Helen supported blind soldiers and visited hospitals. While traveling around the world, she met Charlie Chaplin, Eleanor Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, Will Rogers and others.

When Helen was 75 years old, she went on a five-month trip to Japan. There, she accidentally stumbled upon a monument to Hachiko and learned the story of a dog that had been waiting at the train station for nine years for its owner to return. After that, she wanted to get a pet of this breed. The first dog was given to her by a man, whose name she never found out, and the second one was given by the representative office of Japan. She returned home with the dogs. They became the first Akita Inu in the United States.

In the last years of her life, Helen sometimes resorted to the help of Polly Thomson, who during various interviews knocked journalists' questions into her hands.

On June 1, 1968, shortly before her 88th birthday, Helen passed away at her home. She was posthumously awarded the Japanese Order of the Sacred Treasure First Class. Many documentaries and feature films have been made about Helen. Streets named after her can be found in different countries. Her home is listed on the US National Register of Historic Places. And in the Capitol there is a monument to Keller.

Helen Keller has become a symbol of struggle and opportunity for many people with disabilities. Her learning experience was officially documented and added to Soviet and American psychology textbooks.

Performing a miracle. The story of the blind and deaf-mute writer Helen Keller

Radio Liberty this week 20 years ago archival project. The most interesting and significant from the archive of Radio Liberty twenty years ago. Unfinished story. Still living hope. Could Russia have gone the other way?

Susan Spungen and Alison Burrows, psychologist and deputy vice president of the National Center for the Blind and Deaf, talk about Helen Keller. Dan Wardlaw, a baseball radio commentator blind since childhood, talks about his job and hope. Author and presenter Marina Efimova. Air October 29, 1998.

​ Marina Efimova : This year marks thirty years since the death of Helen Keller, a famous writer, essayist and no less famous public figure who fought at the beginning of the century for the prohibition of child labor, for the right to vote for women, for government jobs for severely handicapped people. We in Russia met Helen Keller in the 60s, shortly before her death, that is, we met not with her, but with a literary character who was written from her and who deeply touched our hearts. In the Leningrad Youth Theater in the 60s there was a play by William Gibson "The Miracle Worker". When I was told that the play was about a blind and deaf-mute girl, I remember not wanting to go to the performance, convinced that it was a speculation on pity and sentimental squeezing tears from the audience. And I was very wrong.

The play takes place in 1886 in the South of America, on the estate of Captain Keller, whose blind and deaf-mute daughter Helen is growing up. According to the play, she is six years old. Parents out of pity and love indulge her in everything, but do not know how to help, and the child lives like a blind animal - caressed, spoiled and unhappy. Here is how the specialist, psychologist from the National Center for the Blind and Deaf, Susan Spungen, describes the problems of this character and her prototype.

Susan Spungen : Helen was completely uncommunicative until the age of six. It was a serious problem for her parents to teach her to put food in her mouth and bring a flower to her nose. Helen Keller recalled that in the first six years of her life she experienced three main feelings: curiosity, fear and anger. During her frequent outbursts of horror or rage, only two touches gradually calmed her: when a warm hand touched her cheek (by this sign she recognized her mother) and when glasses were put on her nose (this was a sign of her father). Helen did not allow herself to be combed, at the table she ate everything with her hands from other people's plates. In a word, before teaching her anything, she had to be tamed.

Marina Efimova : And then a young governess, Annie Sullivan, arrives at the Keller estate, both in the play and in real life. During the first lunch, Helen tries to take food from Annie's plate and gets hit on the arm. The blind woman goes into a rage, beats the governess on a grand scale and immediately gets back. Annie puts the girl's parents, dumbfounded by surprise, into the garden and leads a one-on-one battle. Half an hour later, she, rather torn to pieces, goes out into the garden and says: "Helen herself folded the napkin. The dining room, however, resembles the ruins of Carthage, but Helen folded the napkin." And taming begins, that is, a struggle of wills, and sometimes a physical struggle between a blind, deaf-mute girl and a teacher. But even during the hottest fights, and in quiet moments, Annie continuously shows the girl the spelling of all objects, and the girl, like a monkey, repeats these signs, although she does not understand their meaning at all. Nevertheless, the parents are satisfied - their daughter has become obedient, disciplined, has learned the rules of behavior at the table, and they do not want any new achievements. But the teacher (played by Anne Bancroft in the American movie The Miracle Worker) tells the girl's father:

Announcer : "I only taught her the concept of "no" - you can't do that, you can't do that. And my job is to teach her the language. Obedience without understanding is the same blindness, isn't it? Knowledge has already been invested in Helen, she it remains only to connect two things in the mind - the object and the word by which it is called, and then knowledge will break out of prison, like water from the earth. Help me, Captain Keller, I don’t even love her, she’s not my child.

Marina Efimova : The climactic scene of the play "The Miracle Worker" takes place in the yard by the pump. Iron Annie again forces the rebellious Helen to pour water into the jug, which she knocked over in a rage, and at the same time the governess stubbornly folds the girl's fingers into the letters W-A-T-E-R - V-O-D-A. And suddenly, angry and weeping, Helen stops, stunned. She finally realizes: what is pouring on her hands, on her face, on her clothes, and what her tormentor stubbornly makes out of her wet fingers, is one and the same - water! And the governess shouts excitedly: "She knows!"

The scene at the pump ends the play "The Miracle Worker", and it is from her, or rather, from a similar episode that took place in reality, that the life of the real Helen Keller begins, a girl from Alabama, blind and deaf at the age of 11 months after meningitis, and who then became one of the most famous women in America.

Susan Spungen : This lesson at the pump was the moment that began the rapid and powerful maturation of one of the most prominent personalities of the 20th century. Helen Keller became a famous essayist and writer, and an even more famous liberal. She was friends with Mark Twain, with John Reed and Emma Goldman, she became the spiritual daughter of Alexander Bell, the famous inventor of the telephone, she helped Charlie Chaplin work on the film City Lights, she was hosted by all the presidents who passed through the White House in the course of her life. In one of the most popular presidential photographs, Helen is touching Dwight Eisenhower's face and both are laughing heartily. In general, we have photographs in which Helen Keller was taken with many celebrities of her time.

Marina Efimova : When I began to get acquainted with the life of Helen Keller, I suspected that celebrities were friends with her simply paying tribute to the feat that, in essence, was her life, as well as the life of Annie Sullivan, the very governess, who taught Helen the language and who remained her teacher and assistant for life. With the help of Annie, Helen graduated not only from school, but also from college, and not just any, but Radcliffe, the female version of Harvard, and this was the beginning of the century, there was no special education for the blind or deaf there, Braille was not even invented - raised badges for the blind. So Helen could not read the books herself and Annie translated all the texts for her into finger language. So, together, they took mathematics, history, philosophy and, most strikingly, Latin, French and German. So at first I thought that people were not so much friends with Helen as they gave her credit. Mark Twain dissuaded me. Here is what he wrote about his first acquaintance with Helen and Annie in 1898 years old, visiting their wealthy patrons. Helen was then 18 years old.

Announcer : "I introduced myself as Samuel Clemens and told the story, which Miss Sullivan immediately translated for her. She listened delightfully - lively, with accurate reactions, and in the right places interrupted the story with uncontrollable, carefree laughter. They both laughed. When When I finished, Sullivan asked Helen if she knew what Mr. Samuel Clemens was known for, she replied, "Because he is Mark Twain." I suggested, "He is also known for his wisdom." Helen's hands like that, giggling, said: "And also with her wisdom. She just guessed my simple joke. What a delightful creature!"

Marina Efimova : Mark Twain often invited Helen and Annie to his home in Connecticut. Helen adored these visits because Twain treated her as an absolutely complete person, he did not change his behavior or manner of speaking for her sake, as many did consciously or unconsciously. "Helen," he said, "plug your ears, I must swear." He made fun of her as he did everyone else: "Helen, let me teach you how to play billiards?" "Mr. Clemens, this requires vision." "Oh really?" - Mark Twain was amazed. Once, some snob expressed doubts about the usefulness of Helen, allegedly because the life of a blind man is too monotonous. “You are completely wrong,” Twain objected angrily, “blindness is an exciting thing, and if you don’t believe it, try jumping up at night during a fire on the wrong side of the bed on which you usually lie and find a way out of the room.”

He especially admired the relationship between Helen and Annie. "Helen," he wrote, "you are a wonderful being, the most wonderful thing in the world! You and your other half, I mean Miss Sullivan, you are perfect together." Twain met Helen and Annie in 1898, and many believe that the image of Joan of Arc, on which he then worked, was created under the influence of these two women. Jeanne has two hypostases: one is a simple and pure village girl, the other is a military genius. The fact that Helen managed to graduate from Radcliffe, one of the most expensive universities, was largely due to Mark Twain. In a letter to the wife of Henry Rogers, the oil tycoon, he wrote: "Get your husband interested in the fate of Helen. If such a girl cannot complete her education because of poverty, it will be a disgrace to America."

Dr. Spungen, is it possible to say that Helen Keller changed the attitude towards the blind, the deaf, and people with physical disabilities in American society?

Susan Spungen : There is no doubt about that. Helen Keller was a beautiful and incredibly attractive woman, which helps a lot. Besides, she had a brave soul. From childhood, despite the protest of her parents, she showed herself to people. In America, she was the first blind and deaf person who dared to go out into society. And she was accepted with a bang. Helen was inundated with invitations - social tea parties, suffragist and political meetings, discussions of the latest books and articles, just parties, picnics, even dances. By her example, she made it clear that people who are deprived of fate should not be afraid, they should not shy away from them, that they can do a lot, not only no worse, but better than normal, healthy people.

Marina Efimova : Indeed, the society of that time allowed Helen Keller almost everything that allowed itself. Nearly. In an article commemorating the 30th anniversary of her death, literary historian Dan Smith writes:

Announcer : "America of the turn of the century tolerated handicapped people if they appeared to be sexless, and Helen, a girl with an angelic face illuminated by an inner light, suits them precisely in this capacity. Look at the famous photograph 1898 years old Helen, with her forehead pressed against Annie Sullivan's cheek, is almost an icon. 22-year-old Peter Fagan. Peter was the only person besides Annie, surrounded by Helen, who perfectly mastered the language of the blind and could talk with Helen on an equal footing. And then one day, when Annie fell ill and Helen lived with her mother, Peter declared his love to her and asked for her hand Helen later wrote:

Announcer : "His love was a flash of light in my darkness. The sweetness of being loved and desired bewitched me and I rushed towards this delightful opportunity to share life with a man."

Marina Efimova : But fate gave them only a few dates.

Susan Spungen : For people with physical disabilities such as deafness and blindness, it was then difficult, and it is not much easier now, to have a love relationship with a person of the opposite sex. And yet, Helen had an affair with her editor. True, both Annie Sullivan and Helen's parents were, for one reason or another, categorically against her marriage, so Helen, already an adult woman, somehow hid under the porch of her parents' house in order to quietly slip away on a date with her lover and, finally, stay alone with him. But her parents never let that happen.

Marina Efimova : It is curious what a servant boy, Russian by nationality, informed on Helen. He spied on Helen and saw her making out with Peter. "What did you do with this man?!" her mother interrogated Helen, mortally frightened by the possible disgrace. "The newspapers are full of monstrous stories about your relationship! What does that mean?!" Fagan was expelled from home, and Helen was forcibly taken away to relatives, as if she were not a prominent person of the 20th century. A few years later, another man, Helen's longtime correspondent, offered her his hand and heart. She answered:

Announcer : "From my youth, I dreamed of love and often with rebellious indignation asked fate why she tormented me so much, giving me a desire that I could not satisfy. But time is a great pacifier, it taught me not to reach for moon and not cry about the missing femininity. I resigned myself to loneliness and concentrated my life forces on those whom fate had deprived even more than me. "

Susan Spungen : Helen Keller's accomplishments in a purely physical sense were extraordinary for her time alone, and are now taught to virtually any child who lost their sight and hearing at an early age. Nowadays, you will find hundreds of blind and deaf-mute people who have received higher education. But in a purely spiritual sense, Keller's life remains an absolutely heroic example of overcoming, breaking the generally accepted stereotype. Indeed, at the end of the last century, if a child lost his sight or hearing, he became a pariah. Usually he was hidden from people in his own house, in a sanatorium or shelter, if the families were poor.

Marina Efimova : It was from this orphanage that teacher Helen Annie Sullivan came out. She was 20 years old when she came to the Keller house, and Helen became the main achievement of her life, her destiny, she did not part with Helen until her death, sacrificing not only her health for her (she had weak eyes and at the end of her life she became blind from constant reading), but also by her happiness. In an anniversary article about Helen Keller in The New Yorker, writer John Updike writes:

Announcer : "At 39, Annie Sullivan met her love, the brilliant, charming man and talented writer John Macy. They married with the approval of Helen, to whom John promised that her beloved teacher would always remain with her. Their marriage lasted eleven years, but in the end, John still could not stand this menage, he complained that he had married not a woman, but an institution. His departure shattered the life of Annie Sullivan. "

Marina Efimova : Various biographers view Helen Keller's life after Annie Sullivan's death differently.

Susan Spungen : In her old age, Helen traveled a lot around the world, and it was, of course, not just a passion for diversity, although it was, but mainly a mission. Helen Keller let the whole world know that man can conquer his nature, his destiny. She has visited many schools for the blind and deaf throughout Europe, and you can trace her route through the names of these schools. After Helen Keller's visit, they were all renamed and named after her.

Marina Efimova : However, according to other biographers, after Annie's death, Helen Keller became a rich captive. Her companions were jealous of each other and everything in the house was run by Polly Thompson, a strange woman, not to say crazy. Helen Keller died in 1968. The author of her last biography writes:

Announcer : “In the late 60s, Helen Keller returned to her childhood state, her feelings became dull and the connection between words and objects almost disintegrated. There were no traces of any real human experience in her face. She lived from day to day, keeping one single clearly articulated desire - to unite with the teacher after death.

Marina Efimova : Doctor Spungen, is it easier for modern Americans and especially children to overcome such physical disabilities as blindness and deafness?

Susan Spungen : Absolutely! In the United States, children with physical disabilities are not excluded from the group of normal children to the best of their ability, they can be placed in a specialized school for some time to help overcome some difficulties, but then they return to a normal school, so they have almost no feelings of rejection.

Marina Yefimova : Alison Burrows, deputy vice president of the National Center for the Blind and Deaf, says this.

Alison Burrows : If Helen Keller were to live to this day, she would have had to retrain. After all, she never lived alone, and today a person deprived of sight and hearing can live alone in a separate apartment or house, his phone is equipped with a special prefix, operators at specialized telephone exchanges have the same prefix, and with its help blind and deaf people can call the police, an ambulance, make an appointment to see a doctor, order groceries in a store, and, of course, talk to each other. Similar set-top boxes, by the way, exist for TV. There are other devices that make life easier for them: canes, wheelchairs, even glasses with special electronic devices that warn of approaching obstacles. Other devices control the level of liquid in a pot or help thread a needle. There is a special paper with raised lines. Well, and, of course, there are tens of thousands of talking books and books written in Braille for the blind.

Naturally, the sooner the education of people with visual and hearing problems begins, the better, but many lose their sight in adulthood, especially due to diabetes, many suffer from Usher syndrome, when a person is born deaf and then loses his sight, or vice versa. Imagine a person who went blind at the age of 30-40. Sometimes after that people bury themselves alive. But if a person is ready to overcome a difficult psychological barrier and master new conditions, then life gradually returns to him. He gains a new circle of friends and acquaintances, he can graduate from college, get a degree, not to mention that he can serve himself, cook food, walk around the city and even travel. In a word, live life to the fullest, almost like you and me. Helen Keller has achieved, of course, a lot. But now she could become an absolutely independent person, which was impossible in her time and in her position.

Marina Efimova : Denis Shulman, who was blind in childhood, became a professor at Ford University in New York, a psychoanalyst, and a Ph.D. Silest Lopez - Assistant District Attorney. Dan Wardlow... But he'll tell you himself...

Dan Wardlow : I've been a professional baseball radio commentator for fifteen years and have commentated over three hundred games without ever seeing them. An assistant always sits next to me, my eyes. But how can I hear them? I feel baseball with my whole skin and try to convey in my comments the whole atmosphere of the stadium, down to the grimace of the main players and the smell of hot dogs. And I want baseball fans to remember me when I retire and say “he was a good commentator” or “he was a lousy commentator” and only after that add: “Yes, by the way, you know that he was blind?"

Marina Efimova : "The only hopeless darkness," wrote Helen Keller, "is the darkness of ignorance and insensitivity.

Learn more

• 
  How to start a lap dance
• 
  How to dance animation style
• 
  How to make a dancing santa
• 
  I won t teach your boyfriend how to dance
• 
  How old is artem from dancing with the stars
• 
  How old is max from dancing with the stars
• 
  How much would it cost to build a dance studio
• 
  How to play just dance on nintendo switch
• 
  How to dance with girls at a party
• 
  How do hipsters dance
• 
  How to start a dance camp