I dunno, we say she "overcame adversity", but that doesn't really make sense unless you at least reference that she became a famous political activist. Otherwise, in what sense did she "overcome" her adversity?
Deafblindness isn't particularly unknown outside her case, and she wasn't the first person to be successfully taught to
communicate despite it. But her ability to become a nationally prominent political activist despite her handicap made her unique.
> Otherwise, in what sense did she "overcome" her adversity?
Well, she learned how to communicate and even speak. That seems pretty big. Clearly schoolchildren all over America, when they learn about this, are amazed by HK and her teachers. No one hears that story and says "Well, so what?" if they don't hear the part about how she became a socialist later in life.
> But her ability to become a nationally prominent political activist despite her handicap made her unique.
She was already nationally prominent before she became a political activist. It's not like she became a social activist, and then people said "Hey, we should look into her past and see what her upbringing was like", and then the Hellen Keller story emerged.
Deafblindness isn't particularly unknown outside her case, and she wasn't the first person to be successfully taught to communicate despite it. But her ability to become a nationally prominent political activist despite her handicap made her unique.