Helen Keller was an American writer and speaker. She was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama in 1880 to Arthur H. Keller and Kate Adams Keller.When she was nineteen months old she became sick and lost her eyesight and hearing. The doctor didn't know what it was, so he called it a "congestion of the stomach and brain." Some people say that it was scarlet fever or meningitis. She was an obedient and good girl. Communicating with other people was hard for Helen, because she could not see or hear. She made up some home signs that she used to communicate with her family. The home signs were quite simple, pull meant "come", push meant "go" and so on. Sometimes Helen's family did not understand what Helen was meaning with her home signs. That made Helen frustrated and she had temper tantrums.