| The names Helen Keller and Marlee Matlin are | | | | larger world for deaf viewers, and has been called a |
| world-famous. Helen Keller was best known as the | | | | "godsend" for the deaf. |
| little deaf and blind girl whose early life inspired the | | | | And what about the differences between these two |
| stage play and the movie "The Miracle Worker." | | | | women? These are also remarkable. |
| Marlee Matlin was first known as the young deaf | | | | There were no support services available to Helen |
| actress from the show "Children of a Lesser God." | | | | Keller in her early life. At the turn of the 20th century, |
| However, despite the differences in their situations, | | | | there were no mainstreamed or self-contained |
| there are some striking similarities between the lives of | | | | classrooms for challenged children in schools. When |
| these two remarkable women. | | | | Helen was turning seven years of age, she was mute |
| Helen Keller was born in 1880 in Alabama. Marlee | | | | and behaviorally uncontrollable. Had her behavior not |
| Matlin was born in 1965 in Illinois. Apart from their | | | | improved, she would have remained uneducated and |
| deafness, what similarities could there possibly be | | | | shut away at home her entire life. At worst, she would |
| between them? | | | | have been sent to live in an asylum. A few weeks |
| Both children were born sighted and hearing. At the | | | | after Annie Sullivan arrived at the Keller home, Helen |
| age of eighteen or nineteen months, both girls suffered | | | | discovered words and the fact that they have |
| high fevers which resulted in Marlee's profound | | | | meaning, and began learning her first sign language |
| deafness and Helen's profound deafness and total | | | | fingerspelled words. As an adult Helen made very |
| blindness. Both families refused to allow their young | | | | difficult trips around the world with her teacher, to |
| daughters to live away from home. After visiting | | | | make their speeches and appearances in order to |
| several distant residential schools for the deaf, the | | | | strive to better the lives of the deaf and deaf-blind. |
| Matlins enrolled Marlee in self-contained and | | | | At seven years old, Marlee Matlin was attending |
| mainstreamed classes near home. After considering | | | | summer camp, and appearing as Dorothy in an |
| putting Helen in an asylum, the Kellers kept her at | | | | after-school production of "The Wizard of Oz" with |
| home and hired twenty-year-old Annie Sullivan, who | | | | deaf and hearing children. She attended specialized |
| was herself visually impaired, to give Helen her first | | | | classes that made the most of her scholastic abilities. |
| years of education. | | | | Travel is much easier now than it was in the early |
| As young women, both attended college. Helen Keller | | | | 1900's, and making appearances via "telepresence" is |
| was the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor's | | | | now common. Marlee Matlin's career achievements |
| degree. Both were performers: Marlee Matlin's ongoing | | | | and many of her advocacy activities and |
| career is well-documented, and Helen Keller and her | | | | accomplishments can be found with a few clicks of a |
| teacher traveled the world, first on lecture circuits and | | | | mouse. |
| then in Vaudeville shows. Both women became | | | | These two women have led very different lives, but |
| devoted advocates for raising public awareness of | | | | they shared a purpose of service to challenged |
| deaf, deaf-blind and otherwise challenged people. Helen | | | | people. Helen Keller and her teacher, and other |
| Keller spent most of her adult life touring the world, | | | | pioneers like them, paved the way for Marlee Matlin |
| working for improved education for the deaf and | | | | and others like her who have helped make such great |
| deaf-blind. Marlee Matlin is a spokeswoman for the | | | | strides in education of the deaf and deaf-blind. |
| National Captioning Institute. She was instrumental in | | | | Visit for more information and assistive devices for the |
| the passing of a law that required all televisions 13 | | | | deaf and hearing impaired and for more independent |
| inches or larger to have built-in chips that enabled | | | | living. |
| closed captioning for the deaf. This opened up a much | | | | |