Helen Adams Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) was an American author,
disability rights
advocate, political activist and lecturer. Born in West
Tuscumbia, Alabama
, she lost her
sight
and hearing after a bout of illness at the age of nineteen months. She then communicated primarily using
home signs
until the age of seven when she met her first teacher and life-long companion
Anne Sullivan
, who taught her language, including reading and writing; Sullivan's first lessons involved spelling words on Keller's hand to show her the names of objects around her. She also learned how to speak and to understand other people's speech using the
Tadoma
method. After an education at both specialist and mainstream schools, she attended
Radcliffe College
of
Harvard University
and became the first
deafblind
person to earn a
Bachelor of Arts
degree. She worked for the
American Foundation for the Blind
(AFB) from 1924 until 1968, during which time she toured the United States and traveled to 35 countries around the globe advocating for those with vision loss.