Last Sunday was Helen Keller’s birthday, and June 27 has also been celebrated since 2006 as Helen Keller Day — and since 1984, follwong a proclamation by then-President Ronald Reagan, this week has been DeafBlind Awareness Week.
So this time each year I stop to think about the life of this extraordinary woman who has inspired the work of Lions Clubs throughout the world — and also our work here at LSH.
For most people, Helen Keller is the character in the move ‘The Miracle Worker’ — but she was so much more than that.
In 1902, her book, “The Story of my Life” was published and loved by many who took her story to heart. She graduated from Radcliffe College with honors in 1904, making her the first blind and deaf woman to graduate from college.
Her double disabilities created an empathy in her for all humans who were disadvantaged in any way. She was a campaigner for women’s rights, for racial equality and for workers’ rights, as well as for the disabled.
She was gentle, but she was tough — an amazing role model for us all.
