Helen Keller's Beloved Climbing Tree Cut Down

Deaf News: Cut down a popular 200-year-old oak tree at the Alabama childhood home of Helen Keller.

TUSCUMBIA, AL -- Section by section, the sprawling water oak plummeted Monday onto the grounds of Ivy Green at the hands of a whirring chainsaw.

Sue Pilkilton, executive director of Ivy Green, the birthplace of Helen Keller, watched the tree’s presence in the front yard dwindle.

“Isn’t that the saddest thing?” Pilkilton lamented. “We have tried for years to save that tree.”

Having stood for more than 200 years, the tree had particular significance in Keller’s young life. She enjoyed climbing it as a child, and once became stranded there in the midst of a storm until her teacher, Anne Sullivan, came to her rescue, Pilkilton said.

“Miss Sullivan had to climb up there and get her,” she said.

Members of the board that oversees the historic tourist attraction had no alternative but to order the tree removed. A look inside its trunk revealed why. It was hollowed from years of decay and insect infestation.

In July, part of the tree fell during a storm that packed an EF1 tornado...

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Deaf & Blind Get Behind The Wheel

WATCH [CC] - Motor-racing is not for the faint-hearted. But when you are Deaf and Blind, it takes on a different dimension.

LODZ, Poland -- Motor-racing is not for the faint-hearted. But when you are Deaf and Blind, it takes on a different dimension.

All 19 drivers who took part in this unusual race on the tarmac of the Lodz Airport in central Poland earlier this month were hearing and visually impaired.

But like Helen Keller - the American author, activist and lecturer who was the first Deaf and Blind person to graduate from college - they are pushing the envelope of their disabilities.

Mateusz Kotnowski of Poland's Deaf and Blind Aid Society explained: “Of 19 participants, 12 had never driven a car before, while seven used to drive before they became disabled.

“Some are completely Deaf and Blind. Those who can still see or hear a little wear masks and helmets to ensure an equal playing field for all,” he said.

Each participant had to complete two timed laps of the circuit while under the watchful eye of a co-driver. First, though, they had two days of training to get a feel for the steering wheel.

Three driving schools volunteered a parking lot, five cars and a handful of instructors - who first had to work out a language based on touch to communicate with the drivers... Read The Full Story.

Helen Keller Sunglasses Commercial

Helen Keller Sunglasses under fire for misleading and copyrights.

A Chinese company has grabbed international headlines by naming a line of sunglasses after Deaf-Blind activist Helen Keller.

Is it a smart thing to try and profit off of someone else’s tragedy? One company seems to think so. A Chinese fashion firm, Xiamen Jinzhi, has named a line of its sunglasses Helen Keller.

This is no marketing mistake, or lost in translation. A spokesman for the company, Chen Wenjing, told the Wall Street Journal, they were well aware Keller was blind, but saw merchandising value in her “philanthropist spirit.”

It appears Helen Keller is a famous figure Chinese children learn about in school, according to the article. But maybe the fashion company’s marketing team didn’t pay attention when the course was taught.

On the company’s Helen Keller sunglasses website, someone seems to have picked up a reference about Helen Keller from Wikipedia, “Helen Keller: She was the first Deaf-Blind person... Read The Full Story.

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