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Ask KellerNovember 2009Are you curious about some aspect of Helen Keller's life, and haven't been able to find the answer to your question? Ask Keller Johnson-Thompson, Helen's great-grandniece. This monthly column features real questions from readers like you. Could you tell me if Helen Keller ever mentioned in her speeches or writing if she felt it was harder being deaf or being blind? Why did she decide to dedicate her life to helping the blind?Helen Keller thought that lack of hearing had always been a heavier handicap to her than blindness. She believed that sealed ears rendered it more difficult to gain knowledge. She felt that people who were deaf were as hungry for words as people who are blind are hungry for a book under their fingers, yet she knew that it is harder to find people who will talk with the deaf than people who will supply the blind with braille books. So, she thought being deaf would have been harder. Helen Keller regretfully realized that it would be impossible for her to work for both the blind and the deaf as she had often longed to do. She knew that the effort to alleviate either misfortune would fill more than a lifetime. Instead of trying to take on both deafness and blindness, she decided that her efforts would be better spent tackling one of these, so she confined her activities almost exclusively to the blind or as she called them, "the dwellers in the dark." I read where Helen Keller actually starred in a film about herself? Could you tell me the name of it and could you also tell me how Helen Keller followed the director's orders being both deaf and blind?The movie you are referring to was entitled, "Deliverance." This story was made about Helen Keller's life and was filmed in 1918. You are right, Helen Keller could not see or hear the director's orders. A man by the name of George Foster Platt devised a signal system of taps for Helen to follow and also allowed time for her companion, Polly Thompson, to interpret his commands by finger spelling into Helen's hands, before moving out of the way so the cameras could start filming. The vibration tap-tap-tap reaching Helen's feet told her when to act or when to stop acting. Despite all the hard work involved, Helen Keller considered these rehearsals a "comedy worth remembering." (Keller, Helen. Helen Keller's Journal, pg. 72 Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc, 1938.) Read More Questions and Answers Ask Keller a Question Back |
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