Glad you brought that up. She was not only amazing, but highly intelligent and quite the analytical thinker. Her accomplishments are amazing, but whe also had advantages that facilitated that.
I do believe that she was a wonderful determined woman, and we could all use her as an example of the heights we can reach when we are willing to work hard. I have a problem, however, with the oral camp holding her up as an example of what all deaf can accomplish. Not long ago, someone posted on AD that if Helen Keller could learn to speak, anyone could. But the fact of the matter is, Helen's speech was very difficult to understand. Old recordings of her appearances will support that. The majority of the time that she was touring, she would be led onstage to say a few, well rehearsed words, and then the remainder of her speech would be interpreted from fingerspelling to voice by Anne Sullivan. And let us not forget that from the time she was a child all throughout her life, she had with her not only a terp, but a teacher. She received services far beyond what other deaf children of her day received, as well as way and above what most deaf kids today receive. Helen herself acknowledged this. Still and all, she was amazing. Not trying to discount any of her accomplishments--just trying to keep it real.
