[Nfb-history] What Is The Real Historical Context With Helen Keller vis-à-vis The Federation?

[Kane Brolin]

Thanks, Michael.

The Federation does speak a little bit about Helen Keller in our
official literature, but seemingly never in the context of our own
organization, or why she chose not to embrace our movement.  National
Federation of the Blind FAQs say the following:

Q:  "Who was Helen Keller?"

A:  "Helen Keller was both deaf and blind. Although she had to fight to
get the opportunity, she graduated from Radcliffe College. She wrote
several books and worked hard to improve opportunities for the deaf
and the blind. At the time when she lived, people who were both deaf
and blind did not have very many opportunities. Now there is better
education, training, employment, and other opportunities for the
deaf-blind. You can learn more about Helen Keller from your school or
public library."

I took that quotation from https://nfb.org/frequently-asked-questions.

There is a longer mention of her in "Building the Lives We Want: Our
75th Anniversary eBook."  Interestingly, it mentions that Annie
Sullivan--the presumed "miracle worker" in Helen Keller's life--was
herself considered blind and was segregated into a group home and left
virtually with no hope of receiving an education, until an eye surgeon
was convinced to do a cataract operation which effectively restored
most of Annie Sullivan's sight again.  The implied message here seems
to speak to the medical model of "curing blindness," and I understand
that philosophically the essence of this story goes against the
Federation's message.  I get that.

Another clue: "Helen Keller bequeathed her personal papers,
manuscripts, photographs, and artifacts to the American Foundation for
the Blind in 1968. These were augmented by professional papers
generated from 1924 through 1968 during Keller's employment at AFB.
...  Other major repositories housing Helen Keller materials are the
Perkins School for the Blind and the Alexander Graham Bell Association
for the Deaf." http://www.afb.org/ead/ead.asp?part=front

I note that Alexander Graham Belle is another able-bodied professional
working for the disabled-a "deafness professional," as it were--who
believed the deaf should not use sign language.  He believed they
should all, if possible, learn to read lips and to talk, thereby
integrating more effectively into the hearing world.  Is that ableism?
Does this reflect Helen Keller's own attitudes toward her identity as
a deaf person?

I guess I should shut up now, as I am clearly out of my depth here and
am not a professional scholar.  But my curiosity remains; because once
again, nothing about whether or when Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller
ever interacted with or spoke to Jacobus tenBroek, et al, as they
formed the NFB.  Or about how she might have felt toward the kind of
proud "deaf culture" we see today.  We would have to just infer
everything based on her opportunity or choice to affiliate with the
Foundation.

Cheers,

Kane Brolin