When Helen was older, she helped blind and deaf students by raising enough money to educate them. Helen's last year of college was the hardest not only because of the long study hours, but she was also very worried about Annie. Annie's eyes were sore and tired, just like what it was when she was almost blind. Annie soon became very ill, so a Scottish girl named Polly Thompson came to help. One day Annie went completely blind. She tried to be cheerful but smiling was a hard thing for Annie to do. On October 19, 1936, Annie Sullivan died. Helen felt like she was all alone, again, just like when she was little. Helen forced herself not to give up and so she and Polly carried on.

Helen Keller helped raise enough money to build schools to educate deaf, blind, and mute students. She wrote books to tell blind, deaf, and mute people that they are just ordinary people. She wrote books to tell people not to tease or hurt people who had disabilities beacause they were not any different from them. Helen made sign language better and easier to understand by re-doing it using her own ideas. If it weren't for Helen Keller, deaf and blind students wouldn't have as much education as they do today. Helen's life was so different from others but she accomplished so much.

Read FACING FATE, a poem by Helen Keller in our Poet Hero pages.