# Was the Authenticity of Helen Keller's Story Ever Challenged? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 24, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-authenticity-of-helen-kellers-story-ever-challenged/575896 "2011-03-24T21:59:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tesseract](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@tesseract](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tesseract)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-authenticity-of-helen-kellers-story-ever-challenged/575896/21 "2011-03-26T09:53:27Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > We read about Ms. Keller in school, and I will confess that I wondered at the time why she merited all the attention. Why ever would you wonder that? The fact that we can name a handful of other people who accomplished similar amazing and miraculous feats scarcely undermines them. I still do not understand how, without sight or hearing, she was able to acquire the command of language, written and spoken, that she did. Maybe this is easily explained, but I also do not really understand how deaf and blind people comprehend language nuances, articles, and abstract concepts. Like “nuance” or “abstract” for two of many examples. How do you get those words/concepts across by signing on someone’s cheek? Without seeing, hearing, and reading in the typical ways? Helen Keller was an articulate and brilliant thinker who was able to express herself wonderfully, even without those huge limitations. What she accomplished, wrote, and articulated just seems impossibly amazing to me considering she was blind and deaf. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-authenticity-of-helen-kellers-story-ever-challenged/575896/22 "2011-03-26T12:34:58Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > She wasn’t a liberal. She was a socialist; a member of the party and committed to socialism. Socialism can be considered a liberal philosophy, as it wants everyone to be free to have a voice. This fact is not lost on those people who use liberal as an insult. They group everyone to the left of themselves into the group of “lib’rul.” There might be some technical distinction you are making, but, again, those who use liberal as an insult don’t tend to care. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-authenticity-of-helen-kellers-story-ever-challenged/575896/23 "2011-03-26T12:42:38Z")
I remember in the mid 70s on one of those Mark Russell political comedy shows on PBS where he said it has been revealed the FBI had a file on Helen Keller. Russell wanted to know if the agent who followed her got a medal for concealing himself from a blind and deaf woman. ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-authenticity-of-helen-kellers-story-ever-challenged/575896/24 "2011-03-26T12:49:35Z")
> [@Deeg](#): > > It’s interesting that the early successes with deaf+blind people appear to have been all women. About 30 years ago I was in the 24 hour grocery store late one night. There were a couple of old guys in line in front of me - they seemed pretty happy and I suspect they had been out for a couple of drinks. It took me a moment to realize that one man was signing into the hand of the other man as they went through the check out. At least that’s what I think was going on having read about Helen Keller. Totally cool moment and I had to try not to stare. ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-authenticity-of-helen-kellers-story-ever-challenged/575896/25 "2011-03-26T15:40:23Z")
My grandfather met Helen Keller several times when she shopped at his store. He said she was a jerk. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-authenticity-of-helen-kellers-story-ever-challenged/575896/26 "2011-03-26T16:10:03Z")
> [@tesseract](#): > > I thought the “water” was her realizing that the letters that Anne Sullivan was spelling into her hand meant water…been so long since I saw it. That’s right. Anne had been signing into Helen’s hands, but Helen did not understand that the sign signified anything or was meant to communicate. In the famous water pump incident, she suddenly made the connection between signing, and communicating about the world. I don’t know when she learned to speak, but it wasn’t then. Like other historical figures who were influential in promoting oralism (verbal language as the ultimate end goal for the education of the deaf), Helen Keller is a “somewhat” controversial figure in the Deaf community. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-authenticity-of-helen-kellers-story-ever-challenged/575896/27 "2011-03-26T17:18:50Z")
> [@tesseract](#): > > Why ever would you wonder that? The fact that we can name a handful of other people who accomplished similar amazing and miraculous feats scarcely undermines them. The presentations we read emphasized the difficulty she had learning language and getting an education, but didn’t say much of anything about her accomplishments, leaving us with a big “so what” kind of reaction. Perhaps they assumed that everyone, even grade schoolers, would already know about her - an assumption not borne out by facts. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-authenticity-of-helen-kellers-story-ever-challenged/575896/28 "2011-03-27T00:01:58Z")
> [@sh1bu1](#): > > My grandfather met Helen Keller several times when she shopped at his store. He said she was a jerk. I love the succinctness of this post. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-authenticity-of-helen-kellers-story-ever-challenged/575896/29 "2011-03-27T00:45:01Z")
Was she a virgin, I know she went on a lot of blind dates, but did anything come of those? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-authenticity-of-helen-kellers-story-ever-challenged/575896/30 "2011-03-27T06:39:21Z")
> [@](#): > > Back in the 1920s Keller had worked with school in developing its oral language program In that case, she may have had a severe loss but with decent residual hearing. Like if she’d been around today, (or even in the 40’s or 50’s or even when aids first came out ) she would have benifited from hearing aids. Audilogy is a very recent invention. And it’s complicated.. In the old days almost any one with a hearing loss was considered deaf I remember reading in Dancing without Music, that it wasn’t that unusual in the early 80s to meet elderly “deaf” people with hoh losses. I seem to recall that in the 30’s (the Great Depression) it was very common for parents to send their dhh kids (and even their blind/low vision kids) to the state deaf/blind school, so they’d get an education, place to live and food to eat. ---
**Author:** ![ImNotPaulAvery](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5a626/32.png) [@ImNotPaulAvery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ImNotPaulAvery)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-authenticity-of-helen-kellers-story-ever-challenged/575896/31 "2011-03-28T09:23:19Z")
> [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](#): > > In that case, she may have had a severe loss but with decent residual hearing. Like if she’d been around today, (or even in the 40’s or 50’s or even when aids first came out ) she would have benifited from hearing aids. Actually, I just read that she died in 1968! I didn’t think she lived that long. And [this](http://www.afb.org/braillebug/askkeller.asp?issueid=200811) isn’t the best cite in the world but it states that she was too deaf to have benefitted from hearing aids. About the virgin question above, the same page states that she was engaged to be married at one point, but called it off. That’s probably as close as we’ll ever know. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-authenticity-of-helen-kellers-story-ever-challenged/575896/32 "2011-03-28T14:21:51Z")
Patty Duke, who portrayed Keller in The Miracle Worker on stage and in the movie, tells of meeting her in her (Duke’s) auto bio “Call Me Anna.” She says she was a great presence who was jolly, andpreferred to “hear” people by putting her fingers on their months and throats. “She didn’t miss a thing.” ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-authenticity-of-helen-kellers-story-ever-challenged/575896/33 "2011-03-28T17:42:17Z")
> [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](#): > > it wasn’t that unusual in the early 80s to meet elderly “deaf” people with hoh losses. I seem to recall that in the 30’s (the Great Depression) it was very common for parents to send their dhh kids (and even their blind/low vision kids) to the state deaf/blind school hoh? After thinking about it, I decided it probably means hard of hearing instead of some internet variation on LOL. dhh? Is that like “d’oh” or 'duh"? Please, everyone, when posting in professional jargon, please include explanations for the uninitiated. It’s just good manners. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-authenticity-of-helen-kellers-story-ever-challenged/575896/34 "2011-03-28T18:56:51Z")
Yeah, when people start casually tossing out TLAs, some of us end up SOL in the comprehension department. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-authenticity-of-helen-kellers-story-ever-challenged/575896/35 "2011-03-29T03:23:44Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Was she a virgin, I know she went on a lot of blind dates, but did anything come of those? 🙂 _groan_ That was bad. You know that? That was really, really bad. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-authenticity-of-helen-kellers-story-ever-challenged/575896/36 "2011-03-29T08:35:42Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Before I die, I’d like to be the cynosure of idolaters. If I knew what that meant. I got _such_ a good laugh over that! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-authenticity-of-helen-kellers-story-ever-challenged/575896/37 "2011-03-29T08:55:33Z")
> [@](#): > > And this isn’t the best cite in the world but it states that she was too deaf to have benefitted from hearing aids. Again how the heck would they have known? She DID have residual hearing, otherwise she wouldn’t have had the abilty to learn to speak. Especially with the fact that she helped out with CID’s oral curriculum. Profound doesn’t always mean absolute. Profound can mean anything from can hear 10% of words on the spondee test (the test in a soundbooth where they ask you to repeat words) unaided to can only hear a jet engine with a hearing aid. dhh= deaf or hard of hearing…and hoh= hard of hearing. Sorry…been posting too much on Dhh messageboards…LOL. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-authenticity-of-helen-kellers-story-ever-challenged/575896.md?page=1)