Pt.4 Helen Keller in Her Story - 1954

Helen Keller stars in this 1954 documentary about her life. Her companion Polly Thomson also appears in the film. Transcript: “By eight o’clock Helen and Polly have made their beds. Polly has finished the household tasks, and their business of the day begins. Even at home they carry the responsibilities and obligations of public figures. Their desk is never clear. The mail piles up while they are away. And every morning more comes in. The bulky packages are books in braille. They must wait. The letters will be gone through after Polly finishes spelling out the morning headlines. Helen is emphatic about keeping in touch with world events. But the mail looms large. A few of the letters are personal ones from friends. But most of them are requests for something. From New Zealand...“Will you kindly send a message to the royal blind institute..., From Massachusetts...“I have written a pamphlet on teaching the deaf, please read it and let me have your comments“, From India...“I am slowly going blind. In the United States is a cure. Can you help me?“. From New have chosen you as the subject of my term paper. Would you write me a long letter telling me all about yourself?“. After the mail Helen goes to her own study to work. There are reports to be made out. Speeches and articles to be prepared. So far as possible, she does her own research. She locates her reference books by the braille lettering along the edge. In her work she will not indulge herself because she is handicapped. Everyone has his own handicaps Helen says. It just happens to be the handicap of the blind that they cannot see. Of the deaf that they cannot hear. She does her own speeches, she does on her braille typewriter, so she can go over them herself for correction. The machine has only six keys, because all braille letters are made by the combination and placement of six raised dots. For her letters she uses a regular typewriter. She is fast and accurate. But she has Polly check her letters. Being blind she cannot permit herself the casual mistakes of the seeing. If there are mistakes Helen types the letter again. From the vibrations of a buzzer, Helen knows when it’s time for lunch. The glint of crystals is the one thing Helen thinks she remembers seeing as a baby before she went blind. Flowers are among her greatest pleasures. Helen’s home is not a sad place because she is not a sad woman. She’s extraordinarily gay. She goes toward each new experience with the joy of a child. On week days there are only three for lunch. Helen and Polly and Anne who comes in to help them with the housework. There days are too full for social engagements. But at tea time they relax and catch up with their personal mail. Friends may come in. The talk may turn to politics or world affairs. Helen has strong views on these, and she has the courage to express them even when they are not popular. She also likes a good story and appreciates a joke as much as anyone else. So they spend their days when they’re at home. Scarcely a week goes by that Helen’s calendar doesn’t call them away to a conference or a lecture. At the Dyker street nursery they are experimenting with placing sightless children and seeing children together. It is important to accustom the blind to the give and take of normal everyday life. At the Lexington school for the deaf she watches children at play. Today they have a new game. In blowing a piece of paper they are learning to say who, what, when, why, like ordinary children. In class, she follows the progress of the older girls, in learning talk. Watching their struggles with speech, we can perhaps more easily understand why Helen says if she had a choice between her two afflictions, she would choose blindness. The deaf, cut off from the world, both by lack of hearing and lack of speech need all the encouragement she can give.“