How Helen Found Her Way

          Creative writing is a skill that I believe is essential. Children should be taught at a young age how to express their thoughts, and then put these thoughts into words. For most, the writing process is quite simple. For most, writing is inspired by life experience, which is gained by interpreting what we see and hear. Helen Keller's case is an unusual one. At the age on 19 months, she was struck with an illness that robbed her of all vision and hearing. From that day on, it was obvious that she was going to have to be taught in a radically different way.

          Helen's illness not only stripped her of her vision and hearing, it stripped her of her ability to express her thoughts to the world. For most children, language is generally picked up quickly, as well as the ability to associate certain words to certain qualities or objects. Language skills are also developed through interaction, which was virtually impossible for Helen Keller. She had to find an alternate method. Over time, she learned to interpret and make sense of the world around her through basic hand gestures and symbols. This was a very long and arduous process. Finally, she learned to associate words to objects and to form basic sentences, an astounding feat for someone who is blind and deaf.

         Now that Helen had learned simple communication, she wanted to express her feelings to others. This proved to be quite difficult. How could someone possibly form elaborate sentences that adequately  document their experiences when they barely have a grasp of the concept of words and language? This is relatively easy for kids nowadays, because they can effortlessly put a name to their feelings and opinions, unlike Helen. With the help of her teacher, Annie Sullivan, Helen learned alternate methods of communication, which helped her transform her ideas into intelligent sentences. As she reached adulthood, Helen finally began to make sense of the world around her.

          Helen Keller's story is an inspiring one to say the least. "Story of My Life" is her way of informing the world of the struggles of growing up with a severe disability. Her experiences were drastically different than the experiences of most children, especially when it came to writing. Her against-all-odds dream of telling the world her story finally came true.