Helen
Keller was born a healthy infant, but an early childhood illness left her blind
and deaf. Her story of overcoming these barriers to communication and learning
to read, write, and speak is well known. She was like a celebrity in her time
period. Laura Hershey was born with muscular dystrophy, a disease that weakens
the muscles. She spent her life in a wheel chair. When Laura was a child she was the poster
child for the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon, which raises money for muscular
dystrophy. Both Helen and Laura, well known for their physical limitations,
fought for social justice and for people with disabilities to be recognized for
their individual strengths, abilities, and contributions.
Helen Keller
Helen
Adams Keller was born on June 27, 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama. She was a healthy
child until about 18 months old when she suffered an illness that left her deaf
and blind. Helen spent the next 5 years of her life struggling to make sense of
the world with no real way to communicate. Her parents thought they were going
to have to put her in an institution as was the typical scenario during this
time period. Fortunately for Helen, her parents were referred to Alexander
Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, who was working with deaf children
at the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston, Massachusetts. It is through this connection that Helen was
introduced to Anne Sullivan. Anne Sullivan became Helen’s teacher and lifelong
companion. Helen, who was an intelligent and committed learner, was able to
learn how to communicate through touch lip reading, Braille, speech, typing,
and finger spelling.
Education
Helen’s
progress was framed as a miracle and talked about throughout New England. The
Perkins Institute for the Blind was made famous and Helen was asked to tell her
story time and time again. Helen’s thirst for knowledge brought her through
schooling at Horace Mann School for the Deaf in Boston, Wright-Humason School
for the Deaf in New York City, and prep school at Cambridge School for Young
Ladies where she prepared for entrance into Radcliffe College. She graduated
Radcliffe in 1904 at the age of 24 years old. This was a time when few women
were getting a college education, never mind a woman who was both deaf and
blind.
Activism and Accomplishments
Helen
Keller became an activist for social justice. She fought to pass legislation
establishing minimum wage, maximum work hours, limits on child labor, and
worker safety codes. She joined the Socialist Party in 1909 to advocate for the
eradication of growing economic inequalities and the unregulated nature of U.S.
capitalism. Helen was involved with
social and political issues such as women’s suffrage, pacifism, and birth
control. She testified before U.S. Congress to bring attention to the welfare
of the blind. In 1915, she co-founded Helen Keller International to raise
awareness of the causes and consequences of blindness and malnutrition. In 1920
Helen was one of the founding members of the American Civil Liberties Union(ACLU). In 1924 she became a member of the American Federation for the Blind,
helping to raise awareness and funds to support blind people. In 1946, Helen
was named Counselor of International Relations for the American Foundation of Overseas
Blind, and from 1946 to 1957 Helen traveled to 35 countries to advocate for
better treatment and welfare of their blind citizens.
Helen
was awarded the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal (1936), the
Presidential Medal of Freedom (1964), and nominated into the Women’s Hall of
Fame (1965). Eleanor Roosevelt referred
to Helen as the “Good Will Ambassador to the World”. Helen passed away in 1968,
at 88 years old. The “miracle” that happened to Helen when she learned to
communicate despite being deaf and blind is what made her famous, catching the
attention of the elite, however Helen used her position to try and make the
world a better, more socially just place for everyone and that is what she
should be known for. Helen spent her life fighting for social justice.
Laura Hershey
Laura
Hershey was born on August 11, 1962 in Colorado. She was born with muscular
dystrophy, causing her to spend her life in a wheel chair. At the age of 11
years old Laura was the poster child for the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy
Telethon which raises funds to help find a cure for this disease. Laura later
describes this as playing the act of a “cheerful victim”. This experience
turned her into a “mini-celebrity” for a couple of years. This experience would
later lead her to protest the telethon and everything that it stands for.
Education
Laura’s
love of writing began with poetry as early as grade school. The process of
becoming an activist started in high school and continued on through college. Laura
earned her BA in History at Colorado College in 1983, where she earned a Watson
Fellowship. This gave her the opportunity to travel, research and write about
England’s disability rights movement. Laura was a prolific writer including poetry,
books, and magazine articles. In 1985,
she attended the Non-Governmental Organizations Forum on Women in Nairobi,
Kenya as an advocate for disabled women’s issues. Laura was completely blown
away and upon return home she began writing activist poetry. Laura went on to
earn her MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University in Los Angeles in 2008.
Activism and Accomplishments
Laura
is most well known for protesting the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon,
beginning in Sept 1991. The protests would become an annual tradition. Laura
spoke out against the telethon because it case people with disabilities into a
subservient “poor victim” role in society and perpetuated the paternalistic
attitudes of society. Basically, this telethon was a money making event and the
money went to research for a cure, not the practical everyday things that a
person with disabilities needs to lead a healthy productive life and reach
their personal, professional, and social goals. The telethon portrayed people
with disabilities as helpless and pathetic. She called attention to the
difference between cures versus accommodation and charity versus civil rights.
She advocated for self determination, self expression and accommodations. In
addition for fighting for the human and civil rights of people with
disabilities, Laura sought increased visibility for people with disabilities in
the LGBTQ community. She also advocated for improvements to Medicaid’s home and
community based services.
Laura
was involved with several human rights organizations such as ADAPT, Not DeadYet, and Colorado Cross Disability Coalition. She wrote blogs for the Christopherand Dana Reeve Foundation. Laura was awarded the President’s Award from the President’s
Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities in 1998 and the “Extraordinary
Woman” Award from the Colorado Domestic Violence Initiative in 1999. In 2010
she received the Lambda Poetry Fellowship. Laura has dozens of published works
in books, poetry, magazines, newspapers and other media.
Laura
passed away on November 26, 2010 at the age of 48 years old. She is survived by
her partner of more than 20 years, Robin Stephens and their 14 year old
daughter. Laura compelled people to look at more than her physical
disability-more than her wheelchair. She pushed to change the attitudes of our
society by protesting the image of a poor, helpless, pitiable disabled person,
so often used to compel the public to give money for a cure. She said that
people want a cure so they don’t have to feel so bad when they look at someone with
disabilities-they want the problem to go away, but instead we should look at
the practical daily needs and desires of people. Laura spent her life fighting
for social justice. For more information on Laura Hershey visit her site at www.LauraHershey.com.
Conclusion
Helen
Keller and Laura Hershey were both amazing women who inspire me. Both faced
barriers to leading a healthy productive life because of their disabilities but
they overcame them and showed the world that they had a lot to offer. They used
the position they were thrust into to benefit the world and fight for social
justice. What I take away from this is that you have to look at the strengths
and capabilities of each individual because no matter how big or how small, how
“able” or “disabled”, each person has a contribution to make. As a social
worker this is what I aim to do with each person that crosses my path in both
my personal and professional life- draw out their strengths. I hope to help
people see that strong, capable, individual inside them and go after what they
want for their life. This is the type of stuff that good leaders are made of.
References
Helen Keller. (2012). Biography.com.
Retrieved 05:23, Mar 11, 2012 from
http://www.biography.com/people/helen-keller-9361967
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