The Radical Lives of Helen Keller

The History of Disability Series

by Kim Nielsen

A political biography that reveals new sides to Helen KellerSeveral decades after her death in 1968, Helen Keller remains one of the most widely recognized women of the twentieth century. But the fascinating story of her vivid political life—particularly her interest in radicalism and anti-capitalist activism—has been largely overwhelmed by the sentimentalized story of her as a young deaf-blind girl. Keller had many lives indeed. Best known for her advocacy on behalf of the blind, she was also a member of the socialist party, an advocate of women's suffrage, a defender of the radical International Workers of the World, and a supporter of birth control—and she served as one of the nation's most effective but unofficial international ambassadors. In spite of all her political work, though, Keller rarely explored the political dimensions of disability, adopting beliefs that were often seen as conservative, patronizing, and occasionally repugnant. Under the wing of Alexander Graham Bell, a controversial figure in the deaf community who promoted lip-reading over sign language, Keller became a proponent of oralism, thereby alienating herself from others in the deaf community who believed that a rich deaf culture was possible through sign language. But only by distancing herself from the deaf community was she able to maintain a public image as a one-of-a-kind miracle.Using analytic tools and new sources, Kim E. Nielsen's political biography of Helen Keller has many lives, teasing out the motivations for and implications of her political and personal revolutions to reveal a more complex and intriguing woman than the Helen Keller we thought we knew.

Genres: Nonfiction, Disability, Biography, History, American History, Womens, Politics

186 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helen Keller was a red-hot radical who opposed World War 1, supported the Wobblies (the International Workers of the World), and believed in socialism. But you'd never know it if you've only seen "The Miracle Worker" or read one of the hundreds of books pumped out by the Helen Keller industry. Kim Nielson reveals the real Helen Keller. Nielson also brings to the table a more radical disability politics. Disability is not a condition created by disease or accident or birth. Rather, it is imposed by societies that isolate and exclude people by failing to meet the needs of all.

Nielson challenges Keller's disability politics. During the "progressive" era, many white leftists failed to tackle racism, and some even embraced eugenics. Influenced by Alexander Graham Bell (a eugenicist), Keller rejected signing and isolated herself from the Deaf community (actually, communities, since white Deaf people segregated themselves from the Black Deaf community - read Nielsen's excellent "A Disability History of the United States")).

The idea that disability is an unfortunate twist of fate that the individual must "rise above" or "conquer," fits neatly into the bourgeois drama in which the Character drives the Plot forward and determines his or her own Fate. Helen Keller simply adopted the only role open to those going it alone in a capitalist society: she became a star. In the end, she had to downplay her leftwing politics to play this role, to get funding (at one point, from Andrew Carnegie) and to fit in to her role as a good-will ambassador for the United States.

All that said, Helen Keller is still an inspiration. And knowing about her radicalism makes her even more so..

[Mikey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helen Keller is a celebrated historical figure whose story tends to begin and end in 1887, when Anne Sullivan pumps water into Helen's deaf-blind, seven-year-old hands.

Her life "After the Miracle" however is obscure. The few sources are 20-60 years old; they vary from overpriced, academic texts to socialist propaganda (sold by actual Communists)!

Our perception of Helen is dubious. She's heralded as a beloved treasure, ironically, only as long she kept quiet. But Helen couldn't keep quiet on injustice.

Her early-life prolific writings on conquering disability assuaged her editors, educators and financiers from her underlying political passion.

Helen's real care was the abolishment of "Industrial Blindness and Social Deafness;" an intrinsic linkage of capitalism and the roots of disability.

Physical blindness arose in child factory workers, from on-the-job accidents due to poor industrial conditions. "Industrial blindness" were disabilities intentionally driven by worker exploitation and poverty exacerbating the cycle.

Social deafness included prudery that prevented discussion on the use of inexpensive eye-drops for preventable blindness from venereal disease. Helen typified it as a democracy that disenfranchises gender and race; one where lynching and child labor were tolerated.

The adult Helen Keller led a life of political passion and action.

The adult Helen Keller developed a far-reaching analysis tying disability politics to race, gender, and class did not die until 1968.

[Eve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helen Keller was radical in multiple senses of the word: radical in that she was an inordinately active severely disabled person, and radical in her politics.

Keller was also full of contradictions, which seems to have made her more human than her fans and the public gave her credit for. She was fiercely independent but inherently dependent. She claimed no limitations but used her disability as an excuse when she was late doing a task she did not want to do. She was a militant socialist who extolled the virtues of the worker but lived off of philanthropy. She considered disabled persons full of potential but yet inherently damaged beyond redemption. For a time she was a eugenicist but excused herself from the ranks of the ‘undesirables’ because her disability was acquired, not congenital. She traveled the world, to some 30 countries, as a celebrity advocate for the rights of disabled people (primarily blind ones) but did not willingly interact with them herself. In other words, she was a born politician.

Nielsen covers these contradictions in an economical and surprisingly dry manner. The final chapter covers Keller in culture: forever saintly and sexless, a punchline, a patron saint of helpless do-gooders. We also learn, casually, that her childhood home, now a museum open to the public, is not accessible to visitors with disabilities. I feel this detail sums up the Helen Keller woman and myth: Extraordinary, exclusive, and yet at the same time excluded.

[Janine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hadn’t realized just how much had been written about Helen Keller. Children’s books, in particular, abound. The Radical Lives of Helen Keller is a relatively recent book, published in 2004, and I’m a little sorry that I hadn’t read Dorothy Herrman’s more conventional biography Helen Keller: A Life prior to reading Nielsen’s book, which is more overtly rooted in a theoretical stance than a ‘straight’ narrative biography.

Nielsen’s book comes from a Disability Studies perspective, which challenges the idea of disability as something to be ‘overcome’ and instead focuses on the social, political, economic and cultural factors that define ‘disability’. It is because of this reframing of Keller’s life through a Disability Studies lens that I wish I had been more familiar with the entirety of her story, before critiquing it through this very late 20th-early21st century lens.

I enjoyed this book, which takes Helen Keller far beyond the scene with the water pump in the garden, and presents her as a complex living person, rather than just the iconic figure.

For my complete review, please visit:
http://residentjudge.com/2020/07/19/t...

[Everydayreader1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Many of the Helen Keller biographies seem to cover the well known and more superficial aspects of her life. I chose to read THE RADICAL LIVES of Helen Keller because it promised to go beyond surface material, and I was interested in her political positions too. It was a great read. There are some other biographies about her I also plan to read in the future.

[Liz Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essential History of Helen Keller, from a Disability Scholar

Essential reading. Nielsen is the expert on Keller as a contemporary figure, and she paints a very human picture of the disability advocate.