And the world vibrates.
Congratulations on purchasing the deaf-blind alarm clock Helen. The name Helen is a dedication
to Helen Keller, a deaf-blind american author, born in 1880 Alabama, died 1968 in Connecticut.
Helen Keller became deaf-blind in her second year of life. Her teacher Anne Sullivan applied the
teaching methods of Laura Bridgmans: She let the child touch an object and spelled its name
simultaneously in the other hand. The breakthrough with the grasp therefore happened one day
with the word “water“. Sullivan reports the following: “When I washed her this morning, she
wanted to know the name for water. I spelled w-a-t-e-r in her hand and did not think about it
again until the end of breakfast. Later on we went to the water pump, where I let Helen holding
her cup below the notch, while I was pumping. As the cold water gushed out and filled the cup, I
spelled w-a-t-e-r in her free hand. The word seemed to make her perplex. She dropped the cup
and stood as if rooted. Then she crouched down and touched the ground and asked for the
name, just as she pointed to the pump and the grating. Then suddenly she turned towards me
and asked for my name. The whole way back she was excited to the highest degree and inquired
about the name of each object. The next morning she flew from one item to another, asked for the
names of each thing and kissed me with joy. Everything had to have a name now." Helen Keller
attended Radcli
ff
e College, learned several foreign languages, including French and German, and
made her Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude on the 28th of June 1904. Later she received
honorary doctorates, amongst others from the Harvard University. Afterwards she lectured and
lobbied for the rights of oppressed people - including the rights of African Americans, which
alienated her from her entire family - and wrote several books. In 1924 she founded the “Helen
Keller Endowment Fund" and joined the “American Foundation for the Blind". On the 30th of June
1925, the international Lions-Congress was held at Cedar Point in Ohio, USA. The Lions were at
this time still a new service-organization, which was limited predominantly to the U.S., stood up
for charitable and social goals and promoted international friendships. At this congress, Helen
Keller held a speech that is still quoted today at the Lions-organization.
Description of the device.
On the upper part of the device five buttons with di
ff
erent shapes can be distinguished. In the
lower third of the device is the speaker, palpable through small holes. At the top end of the unit,
there are two openings without function and one small button - the selector button. Of the five
front buttons the top button (the smallest on the front side), the one in the middle (curved flat) and
the bottom one (with a palpable X) are needed to query and set the time and the two buttons on
the right and left side of the center key (with tactile arrows to the left and right) are needed to turn
the alarm on and o
ff
.
First steps.
Turn the deaf-blind alarm clock on by tapping one of the five front buttons. The alarm clock has
three modes: Clock, alarm clock and timer. The selection is made via the selector button. This is
the small button on the top end of the device. If you press it, Helen acknowledges with one
vibration-joint if you are in the time query, with two vibration-joints for the alarm and with three
vibration-joints for the timer.
Request time or alarm time.
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