Disturbing Twitter Thread Highlights Teens Who Think Helen Keller Was a Fraud
A disturbing Twitter thread was brought to my attention in recent days as it went viral, with a man, screenwriter Daniel Kunka, explaining that his teenage niece and nephew think that Helen Keller—author, disability rights advocate, political activist, and lecturer—was a fraud.
According to the man, during a text chain, his mother (and their grandmother) asked if they knew who Helen Keller was, and they responded that she was “a fraud who didn’t exist.” The reason for their skepticism was “How could someone be deaf and blind and learn how to write books?” These two teenagers believe that people manipulated Keller’s legacy and she got help with her work. The ableism in this “rationale” is astounding.
Additionally, Kunka linked to a Medium post where a woman wrote:
Maybe it’s because we were never technically educated on her in school like we were on Anne Frank and other historical figures. She’s become something of an urban legend. It’s gotten to the point where it isn’t even a joke anymore as it originally may have been. Generation Z literally does not believe Helen Keller existed. And frankly, I’m having a hard time accepting that she did myself. I don’t feel bad or wrong for it, and I don’t think anyone else my age does either. But older generations seem to think differently. “Helen Keller overcame many obstacles, and she’s a great inspiration,” my mother said in an attempt to reason with me. She failed to invalidate my disbelief.
Does it stem from our own insecurities — could it be that a blind, deaf woman with more success in life than all of us is too much to grasp? Possibly.
What? Helen Keller an urban legend? She’s a documented human being who lived until she was in her late 80s and died in the 1960s. That’s not that long ago. The idea that you can un-think a person’s existence because they accomplished more than you in their lifetime is … certainly a strange one. But also, it totally undermines who Helen Keller was, and that person was a badass (overall).
Helen Keller used her intelligence to advocate for Civil Rights and helped shape disability reform, for women’s suffrage, labor rights, and world peace. She did get sucked into eugenics and fears of human overpopulation, which are a blemish on her legacy, but it is a legacy.
As for how she managed to accomplish all these things, well, just like Batman, Helen Keller came from money. Her family was part of a Southern slaveholding elite, so all the wealth came in handy when they were looking for people to educate their daughter and pay for a private instructor.
What is scary about this whole thing is that it shows how misinformation can spread so easily, about someone as well documented as Helen Keller. I wasn’t taught about her the same way I was about Anne Frank, for instance, but I also grew up in the age of Google and could just look up information about her—the good and the bad. Plus, it’s ableism being perpetuated to feel the need to say that a person is incapable of greatness if they are a person with disabilities. Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Beethoven, and many others are plenty of proof of that being fundamentally untrue.
Never think that any generation is above being taught bad history.
(image: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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