Helen Keller: 8 Facts That Will Inspire You

Helen Keller could not see and could not hear. But she learned to read, to write, to speak and even to go to university. Her life is one of the most inspiring stories in the world. Today we share 8 Helen Keller facts in simple English, with some useful new words along the way.

Some facts are famous. Others may surprise you. All of them are true!

Who was Helen Keller?

Helen Keller was an American writer and speaker. She was born in 1880 and died in 1968. She was deafblind: this means a person who cannot hear and cannot see. With the help of a brilliant teacher, she found a way to understand the world, and then she spent her life helping other people.

8 Helen Keller facts that will inspire you

1. She could see and hear when she was born

Helen was born on 27 June 1880 in Tuscumbia, a small town in Alabama, USA. She was a healthy baby. Then, when she was just 19 months old, she became very ill with a high fever. She got better, but the illness took away her sight and her hearing. Doctors today are still not sure what the illness was.

After the illness, Helen lived in a dark, silent world.

2. One word changed everything: “water”

In March 1887, a young teacher called Anne Sullivan came to live with the Keller family. Anne spelled words into Helen’s hand with her fingers. At first, Helen copied the shapes, but she didn’t understand them.

Then, on 5 April 1887, Anne put Helen’s hand under running water and spelled W-A-T-E-R into her other hand. Suddenly, Helen understood: everything had a name! This was the start of her new life.

You can hear this beautiful moment in our A1 lesson Helen Keller: Everything Had a Name.

3. Anne Sullivan stayed with her for nearly 50 years

Anne was not just a teacher. She became Helen’s companion (a person who spends a lot of time with you) and her best friend. They worked and travelled together for almost 50 years. Without Anne, Helen’s story would be very different.

4. She learned to speak and studied other languages

Helen read with her fingers, using braille: a system of raised dots that you can feel. (Braille was invented by a French teenager. Read his story in Louis Braille: Letters You Can Feel.)

She also learned to speak, and she could “listen” by putting her fingers on a person’s lips and throat. She even studied French, German and Latin. Imagine learning a new language without seeing or hearing it. When English feels hard, remember Helen!

5. She was the first deafblind person to get a university degree

In 1904, Helen graduated from Radcliffe College in the USA, with honours. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. Anne sat next to her in class and spelled the lessons into her hand.

Helen worked hard, and she never gave up.

6. She wrote her life story while she was a student

Helen loved writing. As a university student, she wrote her autobiography (a book about your own life) called The Story of My Life. It came out in 1903, and people still read it today, in many languages. She went on to write many more books and articles.

7. She travelled to almost 40 countries

From 1924, Helen worked for the American Foundation for the Blind. She gave talks, met world leaders and raised money to help blind people. According to the foundation, she visited 39 countries. Everywhere she went, she showed people what blind and deaf people can do.

Her famous friends included the writer Mark Twain, the author of Tom Sawyer. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson gave her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the highest honours in the USA.

8. She brought the first Akita dog to America

Here is a fun one! Helen loved dogs. When she visited Japan in 1937, people gave her a fluffy Akita puppy called Kamikaze-go. He became the first Akita in America. Sadly, the puppy died young, so Japan sent her his brother, Kenzan-go, who became her loyal friend.

Helen Keller loved dogs all her life.

Useful words from Helen’s story

Here are some words from this article to add to your notebook:

• deafblind: not able to hear or see
• fever: a very high body temperature when you are ill
• braille: raised dots that blind people read with their fingers
• companion: a person who spends a lot of time with you
• graduate: to finish university and get a degree
• autobiography: a book a person writes about their own life

Try to make one sentence with each word. For example:

My grandmother is my favourite companion on long walks.

What can we learn from these Helen Keller facts?

Helen Keller’s life shows us that learning changes everything. One word, “water”, opened a door for her, and then she kept learning for the rest of her life. Your English journey is the same. Every new word is a small door. Open one today, then another one tomorrow.

If you need a little push, read our post on the 9 bright benefits of learning English.

Learn English with Helen’s true story

Would you like to hear Helen’s story in clear, easy English? Our free video lessons tell real, inspiring stories for levels A1 to B2, with a transcript and five new words in every lesson. Watch Helen Keller’s lesson now or explore all our free lessons. Happy learning!