Claim: Helen Keller's teacher was a woman.
Evidence: The story of how Keller 's teacher , Anne Sullivan , broke through the isolation imposed by a near complete lack of language , allowing the girl to blossom as she learned to communicate , has become widely known through the dramatic depictions of the play and film The Miracle Worker.
At the age of five , she contracted trachoma , a highly contagious eye disease , which left her blind and without reading or writing skills.