Posts Tagged: sign language

Helen Keller: Toward the Light

Helen Keller: Toward the Light is one of the many books I’ve read that has left a lasting impact on me. The book follows Helen from childhood up until the end of her life. It highlights major events such as the disease that resulted in her becoming blind and deaf, her difficulties dealing with feeling secluded by the world, her getting accepted into the school for the blind, her raising money to fund passion projects, her influential work throughout the world to bring awareness to the blind and deaf community, etc. One of my favorite parts of the book is when she realized that the kind lady who sometimes scratched figures into her palm was actually teaching her sign language and how to communicate with the outside world. She said herself something along the lines of “My life started that day.” I can’t imagine being isolated from the world in such a debilitating way for so long. I believe she only started learning words at around 7-8 years old. Before that, she was unable to communicate, and her frustration led to her having a “bad attitude” and frequent temper tantrums. Another favorite of mine is when she set her sight onto attending and finishing college. She faced so many challenges as a deaf and blind student but through her perseverance, her amazing support system, and her resiliency, she was not only able to finish college, but to also go on to writing books and learning how to speak so that she could spread her influence worldwide. Helen Keller became an inspiration to me by the second chapter and finishing the book just showed me that impossible is a word that we use to limit ourselves and our capabilities.

-Sybile


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