(gentle music) - [Narrator] Helen Keller was born at Ivy Green in Tuscumbia, Alabama in 1880.

When she was very young, only a year and a half old, she became very sick and became deaf and blind from her illness.

She would not be able to see or hear for the rest of her life.

At first, she could not talk to anyone and was very frustrated as no one could help her.

But when she was seven years old, a miracle happened, which changed her life and the lives of many deaf and blind people.

What was Helen Keller's miracle?

Do you think you could write a book while keeping your eyes closed?

How would you see the words you were writing?

Although Helen Keller was blind, she wrote 12 books.

Her miracle was that she was able to adapt to life as a deaf/blind person and achieve great things.

To do this, she needed some help to learn how to communicate.

She learned to speak.

When Helen was a child, she was not able to communicate with anyone, but when she turned seven years old, a teacher named Anne Sullivan came to live with her at Ivy Green and worked hard to try and help Helen learn ways to communicate, but it was not easy and Helen would become frustrated.

Once, Helen was so upset that she locked Anne in her room with this key.

(door knocking) One day, when Helen was very, very frustrated, Anne took her to the water pump at Ivy Green and held her hands under the running water.

She used her hand to spell out the word water in Helen's hand.

Suddenly, Helen understood that the letters Anne was spelling in her hand meant water.

By the end of that day, Helen had learned 30 more words.

Helen was finally able to communicate with other people.

This would help her do many great things during her life.

She attended college.

Helen studied very hard and used finger spelling and reading braille to help her learn many things.

Braille is a series of raised dots on paper, which stands for letters.

When you run your hand over the bumps, you understand which word is being spelled.

Helen became very good at reading and writing in braille.

She even had a braille typewriter, which is a machine that creates braille.

And braille typewriters are still used today.

She studied hard in school and decided to go to college.

In the year 1900, deaf and blind people were not allowed to go to college, but she was determined, and because her grades were so high, she was admitted to Radcliffe College and became the first deaf/blind person to earn a college degree.

She started working for the American Federation for the Blind and traveled all over the world, speaking on behalf of persons with disabilities.

During her life, she visited 39 countries and met 12 United States Presidents.

Her belief that all people should be treated equally, combined with her hard work, helped make life better for deaf and blind people.

She inspired many.

Today, many people come to Ivy Green to remember Helen Keller and follow her example, that if you work hard and you do your best, anything is possible, like bringing a tree back to life.

There was a tree at Ivy Green called the Helen Keller Oak that Helen and Anne Sullivan used to play in.

But a tornado blew through Ivy Green and destroyed it in 2015.

This made people sad, but a person that had been inspired by Helen Keller's story had saved an acorn from the tree.

And in 2016, a group of second graders planted it near the original tree.

Today, a new tree called the Anne Sullivan Oak grows at Ivy Green.

It's another miracle inspired by Helen Keller's miraculous life.

People all over the world continue to be inspired by her achievements.

Each year in Alabama, visually impaired students participate in the Helen Keller Art Show of Alabama.

It is quite an honor to have your art chosen for the show and the artworks the students produce are miraculous.

(bright music)