Keller learned how to read and write in Braille thanks to Sullivan’s own experiences that gave her a deeper understanding of her student’s struggles. Sullivan used “touch teaching” techniques and her skilled guidance calmed the seemingly uncontrollable Keller. They followed Bell’s advice and in 1887, Keller was taught by Anne Sullivan, a young teacher who had suffered vision impairment herself.
The family sought the advice of Alexander Graham Bell, a famous scientist and inventor known for inventing the first telephone, who advised them to apply to the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston. At nineteen months, she suffered from a form of bacterial meningitis, which left her unable to see, hear, or speak. Helen Keller was born June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama, but things turned bad quickly.
