Maybe I skipped some parts at the start and didn't understand that the person writing this book was blind and deaf from an early age. Secondly, Hellen Keller was one of the first humans to fight for the rights of people with disabilities globally. She was a "radical" for her age and one of the few Great American Socialists.

It is truly impressive that I finished the book on the 5th of December, the same day that the international day for people with disabilities is observed. Indeed, this was a coincidence, but it touched me deeply. So, I went and read more about her on Wikipedia.

This book is about her life, but there are two heroes here. Hellen, the blind and deaf girl who wanted to learn about the world, and her lifelong teacher who enabled her to do it. She was an exceptional student, graduated from good universities, and traveled the world to meet Gandhi. Most impressively, the American inventor Alexander Graham Bell, who patented the telephone, was also her teacher. I say patented and not invited because the inventor was an Italian, and the case is closed with the USA House of Representatives recognizing Italian Antonio Santi Giuseppe Meucci as the actual inventor.

The story of her life is autobiographical, so the chapters are full of her life experiences. Now, you can ask me how a deaf person hears Mozart if they are deaf? There is the magic because one will need to know the words of feelings, associate feelings with experience to be able to describe it. And here is the second hero of the book, her teacher, to whom she must give credit. I don't think that without her, she could have been so special and so good at what she did later in life.

However, the credit for the introduction of Hellen to her teacher Anne Sullivan Macy should go to a Greek pioneer for the education of the blind in the USA. Michael Anagnos (Greek: Μιχαήλ Αναγνωστόπουλος/Ανάγνος; November 7, 1837 – June 29, 1906) was a trustee and later the second director of the Perkins School for the Blind.

Mr. Anagnos or Michael Anagnostopoulos was the founder of the school for the blind in the USA, where Hellen went as a student and met Anne Sullivan.

In conclusion, this is an amazing book to read, considering that it is full of feelings and descriptions of things that the person couldn't see or hear. Hellen took her handicap and turned it into something extraordinary. Her foundation, the Helen Keller International, is 107 years old and still going. That's how BIG this little deaf and blind girl went on social rights for the disabled.

I deeply admire Helen Keller's remarkable achievements in life.

Her contributions to humanity's collective learning are truly magnificent. Despite living with both blindness and deafness, she overcame these enormous challenges and inspired the world through her leadership.

When reading about her story, I vividly remember turning the pages and reading the words. However, there was something that struck me deeply. I never heard her voice.

How could I realistically expect to? Her inner silence and the experiences of her no-color landscapes are beyond my imagination. I wonder what perception was like for her, or how she felt emotions, or how she connected with other human beings.

Helen Keller had a unique, soundless, and vivid first language. She learned to speak ours, but as a writer, I often wonder how she could ever teach me how to speak or understand hers.

Nevertheless, I don't fault her or myself. It is simply a reminder of the vast and mysterious nature of human experience.