© Richard Cary Joel, MS, PT | Husband of Maria Joel, Department of Microbiology
She could neither see, nor hear, nor speak a single word,
this child,
whose whole world was nothing but darkness and silence …
for as a toddler,
cruel illness had taken away her senses,
and they would never be returned to her …
Poor little deaf, dumb, blind girl, they called her,
but though deaf, she was not dumb,
for she could think, and could figure, and she could learn
and learn she did …
and so, she learned home signs
and how to tell one person from another, by the vibration of their footsteps …
and to communicate through signs and gestures with another child
and so, doctors were found
and a proper teacher summoned
to educate this wild little animal
and attempt to turn her into a human being …
and so, the teacher pressed letters into Helen’s palm
with patience and perseverance
and with a faith and a hope,
that one day, the girl would come to understand …
Miss Sullivan would soon teach that child
what those letters stood for
Doll and Water and Mug and a thousand other things spelled out on a hand
by the touch of another’s fingers …
So many things of the world around her
which the child would never see,
but she could touch them …
and she could know that they existed and were as real as she was
and she could learn that they all had names,
just as she had a name
and her name was Helen …
Aside from her name and her curious mind,
touch was all that Helen had,
but that would be enough …
enough to make a life of it
and a life that would matter …
for this isolated girl was no longer isolated,
no longer in a world of her own,
but very much in touch with the world around her,
the outside world
with its people, and its animals, and with all the many things in it …
Helen could enjoy music by feeling the beat
and art, by feeling the strokes of paint on the canvas
and she could feel the lips, and cheeks and jaw of another
to hear exactly what they were saying
and though her own speech was delayed
it did not stop her from having a voice
nor a most distinguished presence
that would one day,
“touch”
the whole human race.