Today is International Day of Deafblindness. Often, when the provision of accessible material is reliant on audio description, Australia’s Deafblind community are forgotten. Braille is, for many people who are both Deaf and blind, an essential part of access to the world, and this is one of the many reasons that Braille House champions braille and its role in our current and future society.
International Day of Deafblindness is also known as Helen Keller Day. Recently, the Braille House Library added two new titles to the collection, both about Helen Keller. For International Day of Deafblindness, we wanted to highlight these two books with the enduring words of one of the world’s best-known disability advocates, now available to borrow in braille.
The first title, The Story of My Life, contains Helen Keller’s personal recollections and correspondence which reveal her relationship with her beloved teacher, Annie Sullivan, and the problems and obstacles she encountered, struggled with, and overcame in life. 
The second book is Letters from Red Farm: The Untold Story of the Friendship between Helen Keller and Journalist Joseph Edgar Chamberlin. In 1888, young Helen Keller travelled to Boston with her teacher, Annie Sullivan, where they met a man who would change her life: Boston Transcript columnist and editor Joseph Edgar Chamberlin. Throughout her childhood and young adult years, Keller spent weekends and holidays at Red Farm, the Chamberlins' home in Wrentham, Massachusetts, a bustling environment where avant-garde writers, intellectuals, and social reformers of the day congregated. Keller eventually called Red Farm home for a year when she was sixteen.
Informed by previously unpublished letters and extensive research, Letters from Red Farm explores for the first time Keller's deep and enduring friendship with the man who became her literary mentor and friend for over forty years. Written by Chamberlin's great-great granddaughter, this engaging story imparts new insights into Keller's life and personality, introduces the irresistible Chamberlin to a modern public, and follows Keller's burgeoning interest in social activism, as she took up the causes of disability rights, women's issues, and pacifism.
Helen Keller grew up in a time where support for those who were Deafblind was very limited, but she was lucky to receive support from passionate and engaged people around her. The stories in these books highlight the value of access and inclusion, while the popularity and success of The Story of My Life demonstrates the limitless potential that is gained when people are empowered with equal access to the world of reading and writing.
Now, thanks to time, change, and the efforts of organisations like Braille House around the world, literacy is more accessible than ever. These two books and many more are available to borrow through our library, as we continue our commitment to empowering people of all ages who are blind or have low vision through alternative formats.