Helen Keller (1880–1968), deaf and blind for virtually her entire life, played a major role in focusing the world's attention on the problems of the blind and the need for preventive measures. She won numerous honors for her work, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and election to the Women's Hall of Fame.
Helen Keller was born on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Though born with the ability to see and hear, at 19 months-old she contracted an acute illness that left her both deaf and blind. Eventually, 20-year-old Anne Sullivan, herself visually impa...[SEE MORE]