People usually fear blindness above all other disabilities.
Yet deafness can be an even more severe handicap, especially in early life, when children learn language. This is why Helen Keller's achievements were so extraordinary. As a result of an acute illness at the age of 19 months, she lost both vision and hearing and sank into a totally dark, silent universe. She was rescued from this terrible isolation by her teacher, Anne Sullivan, who managed to explain, by tapping signs into the little girl's palm, that things have names, that letters make up words, and that these can be used to express wants or ideas. Her remarkable development owed a great deal to her determination, her teacher, and her family.