One of my heroes is Helen Keller; she did so much in spite of devastating disabilities that would have made most of us hide indoors our whole lives. If you’re unfamiliar with her story, Helen was born in 1880 as a typical child, but contracted what is now thought to be either scarlet fever or meningitis when she was 19 months old. The disease robbed her of her sight and her hearing. With a very patient teacher named Anne Sullivan, Helen was able to learn to communicate and eventually became the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. She went on the lecture circuit, wrote several books, and campaigned for women’s voting rights and labor rights. Continue reading Helen Keller and Her Dogs →