How Did Helen Keller Change the World?

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Helen Keller helped to change the world by inspiring people and showing the world that people who are blind and deaf can do many things as valuable members of society. She changed the way that the world viewed people with all kinds of disabilities by showing that these people can earn degrees, communicate effectively and be intelligent.

Helen Keller is considered one of the leading figures in the twentieth century. She lost both her vision and hearing when she was 19 months old due to illness. At the time, doctors called it brain fever. She was devoted to helping others after she was helped by her teacher, Anne Sullivan. Anne worked with Helen to teach her the manual alphabet, words and gestures in sign language, braille and raised type and how to print block letters. Helen could read lips and speak by age 9.

Helen has inspired millions of people including Ronald Reagan, Eleanor Roosevelt and Conrad Hilton (the founder of Hilton Hotels). She graduated cum laude from Radcliffe. She is the first woman to have been awarded an honorary degree from Harvard University, and she received other honorary degrees as well. She was born on June 27, 1880 and died Jun 1, 1968.