Keller fought her entire life against such bigoted notions and distortions of her life story. She constantly combated attempts to render her a hollow icon. Nonetheless, such images regarding Keller and disability continue to be reinforced everywhere. More often than not her radical politics are simply ignored. […] What is remarkable, however, is the power and tenacity Keller brought to bear in answering these attacks. She courageously defied any and all attempts to render her a second-class citizen. She would have her say, and woe unto those who would try to silence her.
hellen keller is one of many significant people in the history of america whose support of socialism has either been sanded down or completely washed from the record books, which is both unsurprising (this is america) but is also unfortunate (particularly with keller, because her political advocacy is nearly completely overlooked in favor of her inspirational story despite the two being joined at the hip)
…her political advocacy is nearly completely overlooked in favor of her inspirational story…
Her political advocacy is new to me. I’ll have to go read up about it. Sounds fascinating.
among other things she wrote for the IWW and was a card carrying member, was one of the founders of the ACLU, supported the NAACP, and was obviously one of the first major disability advocates in the US. (she also had some takes which, in hindsight, are quite bad–for example, her support of eugenics and objection to life-saving treatment for mentally and physically impaired children.)
How did I not know about this?!? Unbelievable!