Helen Keller

One person I greatly admire is Helen Keller. Helen has overcome tremendous obstacles that the average person could not have dreamt of. Becoming both blind and deaf at an early age, Helen faced an immense amount in frustration in trying to communicate even the simplest things to her family and peers. Yet, with the help of a selfless and dedicated teacher, Anne Sullivan, Helen was able to overcome her obstacles with courage, determination, and selflessness as she triumphed over her own impairments and then helped others with disabilities.

Faced with two enormous disabilities of deafness and blindness, it took Helen a great amount of courage to even face these obstacles. Most of us would become helpless faced with the frustration of not being able to communicate to people around us. But once Helen was inspired by Anne Sullivan to communicate a simple word, "water," something clicked and she then faced the giant task of learning to communicate courageously.

It also took Anne a tremendous amount of determination to patiently try to overcome her disabilities. She painstakingly went about communicating in a new way by Anne spelling words on her hand. Helen took this determination even further by becoming the first person who was both deaf and blind to attend Radcliffe College. Despite the effort it took to communicate, Helen also used her determination and sat down to write books, including The Story of My Life.

Finally, Helen's selflessness in helping others is another reason why I admire her. With all her accomplishments, Helen did not feel as if that was enough. She then refocused her efforts to help others with disabilities, such as fundraising tirelessly to help the blind.