Another historical misunderstanding surrounding #HelenKeller is that she is this one-of-a-kind wonder, the first or only #DeafBlind person to do or be this and that, someone you cannot compare anyone with. The relentless erasure of other DeafBlind stories creates this illusion.
In the public consciousness, related to #DeafBlind history, #HelenKeller is a statue in the middle of a desert, with Laura Bridgman off to the distance. In reality, she was one of many DeafBlind people crawling all over the place, doing similar things.
A #DeafBlind man graduated from university five years before #HelenKeller famously became the "first" DeafBlind person to do so. She wanted very much to be married but couldn't swing it, while DeafBlind folks had already been marrying and having families for over a century.
#Helenkeller wasn't unique in being a #DeafBlind socialist activist. Walter A. Ratcliffe was publishing fiery socialist literature while she was yet a teenager. About thirty DeafBlind people had published books before her first book came out. Many would do so during her lifetime.
Other #DeafBlind writers appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Good Housekeeping, Redbook, Scientific American, and other major magazines at the same time #HelenKeller contributed to such publications. Several wrote content that was broadcast on radio, including feature-length plays.
Some things #DeafBlind people did before and during the lifetime of #HelenKeller: War reporting, run a hospital and establish another, canvass towns coast to coast selling various things, serve as a city's poet laureate, fight for and win in court the custody of their children--
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