deafblind

Katherine "Katie" McGirr was about eight years old when she survived exposure during an 1888 blizzard, blind and deaf. Two years later she was admitted to the New York Institute for the Deaf. She's mentioned by name in Helen Keller's "The Story of My Life." In her 20s, she was considered to be able to read more different kinds of text for the blind than anyone else (braille, plus five other systems).

Thanks pennylricharsca for this information about Katie McGirr. We'll fill in some of the information the next time we update.

She would only be able to feel very intense bass or low frequency vibrations. The slats of wood above served as "sounding boards", resonating to low frequencies. Helen Keller was extremely intelligent and, I might add, an atheist despite the fact she studied the Bible. Or perhaps she became an atheist because she truly studied the Bible. Not sure.

Katherine "Katie" McGirr was eight when she survived exposure during an 1888 blizzard, blind and deaf. Two years later she was admitted to the New York Institute for the Deaf. She's mentioned by name in Helen Keller's "The Story of My Life." Elsewhere on Flickr:

Thanks pennylricharsca for this information about Katie McGirr, including this link to the Perkins School. We'll fill in some of the information the next time we update.

See books.google.com/books?id=5rRIAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA37&lp... from The blind-deaf: a monograph, being a reprint of "The deaf-blind," By William Wade for more about her, including a photo (from ~1900) and her own writing.

news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19230902&... indicates that she was employed at the Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind to transcribe letters received in braille.

Thanks swanq for doing this research. What a great story about her night at the theater. The transcription work is most likely what she is doing in the two photographs.