Helen Keller was born on 27 June 1880 in Alabama (USA) to parents Arthur and Catherine Keller. She had four siblings, of which two were half-siblings.
Helen was 19 months old when she became ill with what might have been meningitis or scarlet fever. She lost both her hearing and sight as a result of this illness.
She had around sixty signs she used to communicate at home and distinguished people's presence by the vibration of their footsteps when she was seven.
Her mother sought help to educate her further when eventually being referred to Anne Sullivan who graduated from the Perkins Institute for the Blind.
Anne was also visually impaired and became Helen's instructor and eventually governess and companion.
Anne used to spell out words in Helen's hand to associate with objects around them, and after a month of teaching she realized that these were names of the objects and not mere motions.
By the age of eight Helen started to attend the Perkins Institute for the Blind and at age fourteen she and Anne moved to New York to attend the Wright-Humason School for the Deaf.
Two years later Helen entered the Cambridge School for Young Ladies and by the age of twenty gained admittance to Radcliffe College of Harvard University.
She graduated at the age of twenty four, becoming the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Helen learned to speak and to "hear" people's speech by reading their lips with her hands. She also learned to read braille as well as sign language, using her hands.
Anne Sullivan continued to be Helen's companion until she passed away in 1936, holding Helen's hand. Anne started falling ill around 1914 when Polly Thomson was hired to keep house and become her companion while Anne was unable to.
Helen became secretly engaged and attempted to elope with Peter Fagan, her finger-spelling socialist, against the wishes of her family.
Polly passed away from stroke complications in 1960 and Winnie Corbally, a nurse who took care of Polly, stayed on to be Helen's companion for the rest of her life.
Helen devoted much of her later life to raising funds for the American Foundation for the Blind. She wrote a total of 12 books and several articles and also delivered a few lectures.
She travelled to 35 countries between 1946 and 1957.
Helen suffered a few strokes in 1961, at the age of 81, and passed away in her sleep in 1968.
Helen Keller was an amazing woman who conquered despite the immense limitations of deafness and blindness.
To read more on her life and accomplishments have a look at this Wikipedia article where the information for this tribute page has been sourced from.