Life of Muslimah

The Story of my Life - Helen Keller

Book Summary, Notes and Highlights

🚀 The Book in 3 Sentences

This book is the autobiography of a women named Helen Keller, who lived from 1880-1963. She was the first blind deaf person to receive a bachelors degree. Helen lost her sights and hearing before she turned two years of age and in her book she writes about how she overcame obstacles in her way to becoming the person she wanted to be. The book is divided into two parts, one is her autobiography and the other half is a collection of letters she wrote to several people from an early age.

🎨 Impressions

Helen Keller constantly acknowledges that her success is highly contributed to her teachers dedication. The lifelong companion of a teacher, Anne Sullivan was her name, never gave up on Helen and kept teaching her the beauty of the world through sign language and later on through words, as Helen learned how to "listen" and speak in a very unique way. This book is a great example on how to you can achieve your dreams, despite all the obstacles in your way. Helen Keller openly writes about her feelings and thoughts, there were many time where she felt defeated but with the support of her teacher, family and friends she persisted.

How I Discovered It

While Helen Kellers story is covered in North American curriculums, she is not mentioned in European ones, hence why I had never heard of her before.
I stumbled upon her story by browsing the internet and I was immediately awestruck by her achievement .

Who Should Read It?

I'd suggest this book to those who like to have an insight into the thoughts and obstacles of blind & deaf people, though the time back in the days was a different one and technology nowadays has improved the lives of the blind-deaf community immensely, it's still a great insight into her world and the struggles from before. It is always enriching to study the life of a person.

☘️ How the Book Changed Me

How my life / behaviour / thoughts / ideas have changed as a result of reading the book.

• It is a beautiful insight into the world of blind and deaf people. While we with sight and hearing have sympathy for those who are not like us, this book actually shows all the strengths and advantages they have over us. A sense of feeling we never develop, because we are so "distracted" by our sight and hearing.
• This book also clearly shows that if we invest into our child's education and we nurture them properly, we can build a strong foundation for them to build their life's on. Without the support love and care from those closest to Helen, she would not be who she became.
• I also started to look more into the life's of blind & deaf's and stumbled upon a few youtubers, who are openly combating the stigma surrounding the deafblind community. One of my favorites is  Molly Burke.

✍️ My Top 3 Quotes

• I listened to the audiobook version of the book, so I don't necessarily have anything highlighted, but there were two letters that she wrote that have stuck with me even after finishing the book. One was addressed to a poet and the other one was addressed to a Reverend. I loved about these letters, how she already had developed a philosophical and deep thinking nature by the young age of 10 years.