Helen Adams Keller was born healthy on 27 June 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama, to Arthur H. Keller and Kate Adams. Struck by a terrible illness when she was barely nineteen months old, Helen was left blind and deaf for life. At the age of six, Keller was referred to Alexander Graham Bell by the physician, J. Julian Chisolm. Helen Adams Keller is now known as an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. The story of how Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, broke through the isolation imposed by a near complete lack of language, allowing the girl to blossom as she learned to communicate, has become widely known through the dramatic depictions of the play and film The Miracle Worker. A prolific author, Keller was well-traveled and outspoken in her convictions.