In addressing and understanding intrinsic motivation, Helen Adams Keller (June 1880-June 1968) is one of the monumental achievers that various psychologists, scholars, philosophers and the entire humanity fraternity have highly regarded, based on her lifetime achievements, despite her severe physical challenges. Born as a normal child, Helen Keller contracted a severe condition that affected her brain cells, rendering her deaf-blind. Helen Keller rose up to overcome total blindness and total deafness to achieve many ranks and scholar positions in the United States and below (Davidson 78).
However, despite this condition at such a tender age, Helen Keller was the first person to acquire a degree in Bachelor of Arts (BA), despite having started her formal education at the age of eight years. At the same time, due to her intense intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, Helen Adams Keller managed to lead in various other areas, as a philosopher, political activist, as an American author and a lecturer. Having grown up into her maturity in the twentieth century when the United States as well as other regions and continents across the world were working hard in order to achieve various humanistic goals such as equality, Helen Keller was monumental in advocating for human right and gender equality in the United States and beyond (Keller 34).
However, it was not easy for Helen A. Keller to overcome these blindness and deafness challenges that she faced. For instance, it is necessary to note that her situation was more difficult, considering the fact that she grew up in an era where male chauvinism strongly overpowered equality in the America and many other regions across the world. At the same time, there are various other challenges that Ms. Keller experienced in her communication. For example, considering that she was both blind and deaf, she had minimal communication languages with her family. However, through the assistance of Martha Washington, who was the family cook’s daughter, she gradually developed various signs, which she used to communicate with her family. At the same time, considering that her condition was a rare case, finding a school for both the deaf and the blind was hard, and this is why she started her formal education aged 8 (Davidson 112).
With Keller’s condition, education was essential; because that’s the only way she could express herself, as well as play her role in changing the society in which she lived. Having started education at age 8 in Perkins Institute for the Blind and later Wright-Humason School for the Deaf as well as Horace Mann School for the Deaf, Keller was able to acquire education for both the blind, as well as the deaf. With her love for linguistics and literature, acquisition of education in Helen A. Keller was the biggest breakthrough, because she was not only able to express herself by communicating with others, but also achieved her childhood dreams (Davidson 57).
There are various aspects that motivated Helen Keller to pursue her dreams. Intrinsically, Keller was motivated by her condition, in which she sought to acquire achievements as remedy, while her dad, who highly regarded education, extrinsically motivated her. She, consequently, is a motivation to me, as well as other people, and persistence and self-motivation are the two qualities that strongly stand out in her, and that many people seek to emulate. Learning about Helen A. Keller has really taught me and encouraged me in my pursuit for my dreams, particularly in my career, since Helen rose against all odds, and conquered some of the most challenging disabilities to achieve all her dream careers. At the same time, learning about her has motivated me to keep working hard, since intrinsic motivation highly supersedes physical challenges.
Works Cited
Davidson, Margaret. Helen Keller. New York: Wiley, 2009. Print.
Keller, Helen. The Story of My Life: The Restored Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Print.
