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The Story of My Life is the autobiography of Helen Keller, a deafblind girl who rose to fame in the twentieth century for the story of how she learned to communicate through the help of her teacher Anne Sullivan. Summary of the Book When the Keller family welcomed their daughter Helen in their family on June 27, 1880, they had no idea how she would change their lives. At 19 months of age, Helen contracted a disease which destroyed her ability to see or hear, and slowly began to develop her own home signs in order to communicate with the people around her. Her mother was inspired by the story of another deafblind woman, Laura Bridgeman, to seek out physician J. Julian Chisolm, an eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist in Baltimore. Dr. Chisolm directed the Kellers to Alexander Graham Bell who further directed them to the Perkins Institute for the Blind. Through the institute, they came into contact with a former student, Anne Sullivan, who would change Helen's life forever. Anne began a relationship with Helen which spanned 49 years, teaching Helen to communicate with others, to read Braille. The stories of her lessons with Anne catapulted Helen to fame, and soon she joined the Perkins Institute. Helen Keller's drive to communicate with others as conventionally as possible led her to learn how to speak, and she soon spent the rest of her life giving speeches. She spent a large part of her life helping others like her, and became a strong advocate for people with disabilities, a suffragist, a pacifist, an opponent of Woodrow Wilson, a radical socialist and a birth control supporter. This book gives readers a look into the life of one of the most fascinating figures in recent history, a figurehead for hope in the face of unsurmountable odds. About Helen Keller Helen Adams Keller was an American writer, political activist and lecturer who was the first deafblind person to earn a bachelor of arts degree. Her story, especially the story of how she learned to communicate through the assistance and teaching of Anne Sullivan, resulted in her rise to fame and soon became the flagship story for hope for all deafblind children everywhere. Helen Keller was a prolific writer, touching upon various topics such as women's suffrage, labor rights, socialism, and other radical left causes. She has since become a symbol for deafblindness and several schools for the deaf and blind have been dedicated to her memory.