We all think we know Helen Keller’s story. “Water” was fingerspelled as it poured from a pump; language was conveyed; and with it a wild child became more human and a teacher became a miracle worker.

But Helen Keller grew up, and it is her fascinating life as a Deaf Blind adult that this film explores. She was a socialist, a fighter for workers and women’s rights, a roving ambassador for our government, and a celebrity. Helen Keller’s life offers us a chance to better understand society’s response to disability and difference. Beyond biography, American Masters: Becoming Helen Keller challenges the viewer to imagine the context of her times and bring disability into contemporary focus.

American Masters: Becoming Helen Keller preimeres on PBS fall 2010.