[NFB-DB] Helen Keller's Shadow Essay

[Rod and Ele Macdonald]

Helen Keller was born more than 120 years ago, in a time, in a place and in an era very different from anything we know first-hand. She was totally blind and profoundly deaf before she was two years old. She was not born into a disability "culture" or "community" - she was alone, with untrained "professionals" trying to help her. What she accomplished was phenomenal, even by today's standards. 

For most of deaf-blind people today, we acquire deaf-blindness with significant residual vision or hearing, maybe even some of both. We often acquired out deaf-blindness through the lens of the Deaf culture using a visual language we can't really see; or the blind community depending on unreliable spoken English; and we acquired our values and outlook on life from these backgrounds. Helen Keller started from scratch. She met a few deaf-blind people in her early years, but mostly just to be introduced, possibly exchange braille letters. She grew up through the lens of a sighted and hearing person when she could not see or hear.

I found my personal identity via the blindness community, until I realized it did not completely explain who I was. I did not admit I was deaf until many years after I could no longer hear speech, but when I finally did it was an awakening.

Given this, I never felt, and still do not fee, that I was in Helen Keller's shadow. She was a revered historical figure with some characteristics similar to mine, just as I have a respectful view of, say, George Washington, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, Babe Ruth, Kenneth Jernigan ... or even John MacDonald in Canada. I highly respect Helen Keller and her achievements and especially in her time, but I don't feel in any way obligated to follow in her shadow.

Rod