How Did Helen Keller Contribute To Education

Helen Keller promoted the catholic teaching of participation and subsidiary by building a language for the blind and deaf which broadened the medical advancements in that field of study; Helen also was a apart of a movement that allowed equal rights for the blind, deaf and women, which lead to women being able to vote. Helen Keller contributed her life to educating other that had her condition making life easier for them through teaching sign language, giving speeches, and she did not discriminate. For instance, in Helen Keller early years, around 1887; Helen had already developed her own language for the blind and deaf that people could use with their hands to spell out words. For example, Helen writes about the first time she could “speak”
to other children” What joy to talk with other children in my own language” (The Story of My Life, p 22). This excerpt from Helen Keller’s book shows how her dedication to her language and how she was very delighted for the other children learning to understand her, shows how she wished to be apart of the community around her and she was not done participating in an society that did not have the resources to give her at the time. Another instance that Helen Keller is seen promoting participation and subsidiary is when she was giving speeches all over the America. For example, Helen‘s great grandniece writes about Helens thoughts on giving speeches “She adapted her talk to fit their interests and their needs. She was especially interested in reaching people who were poor, young, blind, deaf and those with other handicaps. Her goal was to always give special encouragement to them.” (Thompson, 2006) This is an example on how dedicated Helen was to creating the perfect speeches to give to those like her, Helen wanted to make sure everyone of her listeners new what she was saying and understood her. Also, Helen was a very big advocate for anything against discrimination or intolerance. For example, in Gara Thompson’s book “Who is Helen Keller?” he makes reference to a time when Helen Keller was the only friend to a girl who was different to everyone else. This shows her thoughts on how treating others and keeping them from being apart of society does not promote the catholic teaching of participation and subsidiary.
Next, Helen Keller developed the sciencetific and medical world to advance society in blind and deaf conditions.
For instance, the language that Helen Keller developed created an opening for children who had her condition to get an education; for example, it helped the children at Helen Keller’s old school of Perkins, where later the school built a library dedicated to Helen Keller herself.
Another reason Helen Keller was a great example for participation and subsidiary by being apart of society through successfully going through university and learning a language that she could not even hear; this has made for great advancements in medical fields because it gave insight to speech therapy research and understanding on how to improve on the hearing and visually impaired. Furthermore, Helen Keller created new techniques that help children and adults that were like her. These techniques were introduced through Anne Sullivan, Helen’s tutor. Anne Sullivan used the language that Samuel Gridley Howe created to help Helen Keller learn her first bit of language but because of Helen’s case that she was both blind and deaf, Sullivan had to adjust the language by using Helen’s hand and sense of touch. This opened the door to making it easier for people with other disabilities of other kinds to understand what the meaning of something is without needing
words.

To proceed, Helen Keller had become an activist for human rights and the freedom of equal rights. To begin, Helen Keller new the unjust life someone might live if they are born or become blind and deaf; so Helen Keller used her sense of duty to society by promoting how important it is for children or adults that are deaf and blind to have an education and be able to become a active citizen with a good education. Helen knew that without her getting an education, she would still be an angry child and dark to the world, she wanted children to have the same chance at a life that she had. Another point that Helen Keller argued was the all women have the right to vote and to speak their opinion just as much as any other person. For example Helen Keller states “Some of us have imagined that we lived in a democracy, we do not. The democracy would mean full opportunity for all, it would mean that every child had a chance to be well, well fed, well educated and properly started in life. It would mean that every human being had a voice in the making of the laws and in exercising its privileges; it would mean that all men enjoyed the fruits of their labor. Such a democracy has never existed"(Keller, 1915) This statement shows how Helen Keller new that people were being mistreated in the world and that it was unfair to say that it was not happening. The next argument Helen Keller made was that their were people in the world that destroyed the rights to other and saw to the destruction of the light of people. For instance she states to the New York Times “our worst foes are ignorance, poverty, and the unconscious cruelty of our commercial society. These are the causes of blindness; these are the enemies which destroy the sight of children and workmen and undermine the health of mankind.”(Keller, 1916) This example shows how Helen Keller saw that the worst things in life were not to be blind and deaf but to blind to cruelty and the hurtful treatment of others.
Helen Keller had a different mindset for her time. She saw that children that were blind or deaf could have an education that she had the opportunity to have; and that with the language she made it would be easier for them to communicate and be apart of society. Next, Helen Keller was an activist for women’s, she saw that as a women, she had little rights to begin with, but as a blind and deaf women she had no rights or support from society; but she argued that this did not stop her from her goal, for instance she states “ when it fights back, let it fight for….. It is not fair fighting or good argument to remind me and others that I cannot see or hear” Helen Keller wanted people to understand that her condition would not hold her back from establishing the rights of society; for instance, Pope Francis states “man is not only a freedom which he creates for himself. Man does not create himself. He is spirit and will, but also nature.” (Laudato Si’, 2015) This is correlated to Helen Keller’s words because it shows how we all have a nature above ourselves and can do well above our nature. Helen Keller also contributed to women gaining the right to vote in 1920, and how her view on equality created a firm understanding of the freedom every human deserves