Miss-Delectable
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Book review: Author recalls how blind, deaf woman touched the world
Today the name probably won't ring many bells, but in the mid-1800s Laura Dewey Bridgman was once as famous as Queen Victoria of England.
Pittsburgh couple Robert Alexander and Sally Hobart Alexander say Bridgman was so famous that little girls would name their dolls after her and then poke out the dolls' eyes because the blind and deaf girl was so admired.
Robert Alexander teaches English and writing at Point Park University. Sally Hobart Alexander teaches literature and writing at Chatham University and is the author of children's books. She is blind and has some hearing impairment as well. The book grew out of her discovering Bridgman when she started experiencing hearing problems some years ago.
This quiet, cerebral and yet engaging story looks at Bridgman's life and the times in which she lived.
Most of us are familiar with the blind, deaf and mute Helen Keller and her teacher, Anne Sullivan. Although she was never a certified teacher, Bridgman taught Sullivan how to reach Keller.
The Alexanders also recount Bridgman's first years living on a farm in Hanover, N.H. Her father, statesman and farmer Daniel Bridgman, ran the farm while her mother, Harmony, did everything else: sewed, spun, made candles, cooked, baked, etc. She also bore nine children.
In 1832, however, when she was 2, Bridgman had just two older sisters. But that February scarlet fever marauded through the Bridgman home, leaving her sisters in their graves and the toddler profoundly deaf and mostly blind.
While the illness robbed her of two vital senses and made it seemingly impossible for her to learn to read, write or speak, the misfortune ultimately opened the world to her and introduced young Laura to the world. The book tells how Samuel Gridley Howe, an adventuresome physician, rescued Bridgman from a progressively darkening existence.
Impressed by her obvious intelligence, Howe and his assistant teachers taught Bridgman to decipher raised letters, to write using a special board and to finger spell so she could communicate her thoughts for the first time.
Thanks to Howe, she became a Boston tourist attraction. In the 19th-century world, deaf and dumb children were written off as unteachable, but Howe proved that such children could be educated through his work with Bridgman.
The book's jacket cover is a bit off-putting, with a young Bridgman clad all in black and wearing the customary blindfold to cover sightless eyes. She stands with her hand poised in front of a huge orange globe while a crowd gawks from behind.
However, the book's photos are interesting. Many were pulled from the archives of the Perkins School for the Blind in South Boston. Additionally, nuggets about social attitudes regarding the handicapped, marriage and religion also make the book a draw not just for the intended school-age audience but for older readers, too.
The authors included an appendix that explores today's laws, medicine, attitudes and technology that help those whose senses have been compromised to live productive lives.
The book is a good read that entertains while providing insight into a long-past time and a remarkable life.
Today the name probably won't ring many bells, but in the mid-1800s Laura Dewey Bridgman was once as famous as Queen Victoria of England.
Pittsburgh couple Robert Alexander and Sally Hobart Alexander say Bridgman was so famous that little girls would name their dolls after her and then poke out the dolls' eyes because the blind and deaf girl was so admired.
Robert Alexander teaches English and writing at Point Park University. Sally Hobart Alexander teaches literature and writing at Chatham University and is the author of children's books. She is blind and has some hearing impairment as well. The book grew out of her discovering Bridgman when she started experiencing hearing problems some years ago.
This quiet, cerebral and yet engaging story looks at Bridgman's life and the times in which she lived.
Most of us are familiar with the blind, deaf and mute Helen Keller and her teacher, Anne Sullivan. Although she was never a certified teacher, Bridgman taught Sullivan how to reach Keller.
The Alexanders also recount Bridgman's first years living on a farm in Hanover, N.H. Her father, statesman and farmer Daniel Bridgman, ran the farm while her mother, Harmony, did everything else: sewed, spun, made candles, cooked, baked, etc. She also bore nine children.
In 1832, however, when she was 2, Bridgman had just two older sisters. But that February scarlet fever marauded through the Bridgman home, leaving her sisters in their graves and the toddler profoundly deaf and mostly blind.
While the illness robbed her of two vital senses and made it seemingly impossible for her to learn to read, write or speak, the misfortune ultimately opened the world to her and introduced young Laura to the world. The book tells how Samuel Gridley Howe, an adventuresome physician, rescued Bridgman from a progressively darkening existence.
Impressed by her obvious intelligence, Howe and his assistant teachers taught Bridgman to decipher raised letters, to write using a special board and to finger spell so she could communicate her thoughts for the first time.
Thanks to Howe, she became a Boston tourist attraction. In the 19th-century world, deaf and dumb children were written off as unteachable, but Howe proved that such children could be educated through his work with Bridgman.
The book's jacket cover is a bit off-putting, with a young Bridgman clad all in black and wearing the customary blindfold to cover sightless eyes. She stands with her hand poised in front of a huge orange globe while a crowd gawks from behind.
However, the book's photos are interesting. Many were pulled from the archives of the Perkins School for the Blind in South Boston. Additionally, nuggets about social attitudes regarding the handicapped, marriage and religion also make the book a draw not just for the intended school-age audience but for older readers, too.
The authors included an appendix that explores today's laws, medicine, attitudes and technology that help those whose senses have been compromised to live productive lives.
The book is a good read that entertains while providing insight into a long-past time and a remarkable life.