Helen Keller

English

Etymology

From the American author, disability rights advocate, political activist and lecturer Helen Keller (1880–1968).

Noun

Helen Keller (plural Helen Kellers)

1. A person who has triumphed in the face of adversity.
   • 1905, Edgar A. Ashcroft, The World's Desires Or, The Results of Monism, an Elementary Treatise on a Realistic Religion and Philosophy of Human Life, K. Paul, Trench, Trübner:

     Slightly we realise that in some sense we are all Helen Kellers, and that ours, too, is a Helen Keller world.

   • 1989, Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Free Press:

     The Helen Kellers of this world give dramatic evidence of the value, the power of the independent will.

   • 2010, Jonathan Shay, John McCain, Senator Max Cleland, Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming, Scribner:

     Not everyone is a Helen Keller or Max Cleland, nor should we require them to be. Depending on their severity and the resources and resiliency of the survivor, simple PTSD injuries can be disabling in the same sense that physical injuries are.