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How are Helen Keller's parents portrayed as role models for other parents in The Story of My Life?

Arthur and Kate Keller were determined to find help for their daughter, Helen.  Helen became deaf and blind when she was one year old.  In the 1880s, children with such severe disabilities were often sent away to live in asylums or at boarding schools.  They were sometimes not expected to learn or live normal lives.  Helen's parents did not feel this way.


As Helen grew older and tried to communicate, Mr. and Mrs. Keller "were deeply grieved and perplexed."  They wanted to help their daughter, but they did not know how.  They began to research options.  They did not live anywhere near a "school for the blind or the deaf."  Helen's mother read "American Notes" by Charles Dickens.  She read about "his account of Laura Bridgman, and remembered vaguely that she was deaf and blind, yet had been educated."  Her father discovered an "eminent oculist in Baltimore."  They traveled there "to see if anything could be done for [Helen's] eyes."  When they arrived in Baltimore, Helen's parents were disappointed to find out that the doctor could not do anything to fix Helen's eyes.  He did, however, recommend that the Kellers contact the inventor Alexander Graham Bell.  He might know about ways to educate the deaf and blind.


They "went immediately to Washington to see Dr. Bell."  He was able to direct them as to ways to educate Helen.  Alexander Graham Bell was helpful and he "advised [her] father to write to Mr. Anagnos, director of the Perkins Institution in Boston."  It was through Mr. Anagnos that Anne Sullivan was sent to the Keller homestead to be Helen's teacher.  This changed her life.  Helen's parents were determined and did not give up until they found a way to educate their daughter.  Other parents who have children with disabilities can look at their perseverance and hopefully be inspired.

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