Programme 3: Helen Keller: True Visionary

Programme Outline

The programme opens with a mother and father learning that an illness has left their baby daughter, Helen, deaf and blind. They ask what sort of life she will be able to have. The narrator explains that the child, Helen Keller, was born over a hundred years ago when people with special needs were not understood. He explains that as Helen grew older her inability to communicate made her angry and frustrated. Not much help was available for blind/deaf children then, but her parents found her a teacher who, by being kind but firm, established a bond with Helen. She began to spell out words on Helen's hand, but words had no meaning for Helen, until one day at the water pump, she finally made the connection between an object and its name. After that, there was no holding her back. Helen went to school, learned Braille and went on to university. She wrote about her life and about her disability. She lectured all over the world. Helen Keller was an inspiration to all disabled people, especially those who were blind or deaf.