Keller and Sullivan in 1887
April 5th 1887: Helen Keller’s ‘miracle’
On this day in 1887, the deaf-blind Helen Keller - then aged 7 - recognised the word ‘water’. Keller was left deaf and blind from an illness when she was 19 months old, and her parents sought a tutor to help their daughter cope with her disability. The Kellers appealed to notable figures including Alexander Graham Bell, but ultimately settled with the young Anne Sullivan in 1887. Sullivan taught Helen to communicate by spelling words into her hand, but at first Helen could not understand that every object had a name. Her breakthrough came on April 5th 1887, when she realised that Sullivan spelling 'w-a-t-e-r’ into her hand and the sensation of running water on her other hand symbolised 'water’. From then on, Helen was a fast learner, leaning 30 new words that day and going on to learn to write and speak so that, by aged 16, she could attend school. Keller became the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree and went on to campaign for leftist causes, female suffrage and pacifism. Helen Keller campaigned around the world and was highly respected for overcoming adversity, and since her death in 1968 has continued to be a symbol of hope and courage.
“Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten–a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me…That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away”
- Helen Keller on her 1887 breakthrough
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