Lessons from the Video

• The touch of a teacher--In many ways the story about Helen Keller is a story about her teacher Anne Sullivan. The two cannot be separated. Teachers are so important. Who was the most important person in your life? More than likely it was a teacher or someone who taught you something directly or by their example.
  • Describe the most important teacher in your life.
  • What made Anne Sullivan a good teacher?
  • Is the librarian in the video a good teacher? Why or why not?

• Kindness is the key--What is the proper way to behave toward someone with a disability? "Kindness is the language that the blind can see and the deaf can hear." Accept them as they are and be upbeat, encouraging and kind. Behave as you would around anyone else you know.
  • How should you behave around someone who is visually impaired? Hearing impaired? Physically challenged?
  • How did it make you feel when the blind student was abused at the beginning of the video?
  • If you were to have been there watching the abuse, what would you have done?
  • When talking with a disabled person, should you ever discuss the disability with them? Why, when or how?
  • How do you respond to people who make bad jokes about people with disabilities? How should you respond?

• Asking forgiveness--Apologizing can be very hard. However, the teenager in the video, Felix, found it to be the natural thing--the important thing--to do after his experience with Helen.
  • Is it important to apologize for wrong that has been committed?
  • When should you apologize?
  • What should you do if someone doesn't accept your apology?
  • How should you behave if someone apologizes to you? What if they apologize for something that you find it hard to forgive?
  • When is it important to forgive?
  • What is the difference between forgiving and forgetting?

• Everyone is imperfect--When you think of a person with disabilities, do you think of yourself? Everyone is imperfect. Everyone has some limitations.
  • What are your personal strengths?
  • What are your limitations?

• I can't speak the language--There are great difficulties in being able to communicate without speech or the written word. Helen Keller was separated from others by a tremendous communication gap before her teacher came. Even if we can see and hear well, there are often misunderstandings that we must overcome.
  • In what ways do we communicate? How are our eyes and ears important in each form of communication?
  • What are your limitations?

• A handicap of the heart (Your Fun/Her Pain)--The young man in the video knew how to talk tough, but he didn't know how to understand and be sensitive. He had a "handicap of the heart."
  • Why is it important to be sensitive to other people?
  • Is it important to be sensitive to people you don't like?
  • Who in the video had the worst handicap of the heart? Who was the most sensitive?