The Early Years
Helen Keller was not born blind or deaf. She was a healthy baby, but when she was twenty months old, she was struck with a horrid disease which left her both blind and deaf. Consequently, she grew up not being able to speak or communicate with the outside world. Stuck inside her own head and unable to communicate with the outside world, she resorted to temper tantrums. In an attempt to express herself, she would hit, smack, punch, kick, or rip to get what she wanted. Purely at a loss for means to explain to her mother what she needed or wanted, Helen even took to biting the consoling hand of her mother. Her mother became exasperated and terrified. Helen had become, at age one, a menace.