Helen Keller’s Living Word

Deaf and blind since toddlerhood, Helen Keller was seven years old when her teacher, Anne Sullivan, took her to a water-pump on 5th April, 1887 - and she learned the word ‘water’.

It was a eureka moment for Keller, who went on to read braille; write in pencil; learn French, German, Greek, and Latin; study at Harvard University; and speak using her own voice. She became one of the most famous disabled people of the twentieth century.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider a wordless definition of ‘love’; explain how Keller was able to follow her University lectures; and ask whether her autobiography’s narrative of overcoming immense adversity has become an unwitting example of ‘inspiration porn’...

Further Reading:

• ‘Deaf, Blind and Determined: How Helen Keller Learned to Communicate’ (HowStuffWorks, 2021): https://people.howstuffworks.com/helen-keller.htm

• ‘Is a Helen Keller Obsession Holding Disabled People Back?’ (New York Times, 2021): https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/21/opinion/helen-keller.html

• ‘Helen Keller Speaks Out’ (1954): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ch_H8pt9M8

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The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Emma Corsham.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2022.

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