A Helen Keller Confession

Helen Keller has been dead over 40 years now.  Yet, her name still stands as one of the most remarkable people with disabilities in American history.

Today would have been her...oh, let's see,  141st birthday.

She would have been remarkable without also having multiple disabilities.  With those disabilities, her achievements are legend.  Writing 12 books, having some movies made about her.  Her birthplace in Alabama is a museum.

And, like some legends....there is a whole genre of jokes about her.  Helen Keller jokes.

And now, I have to make a confession.  I have laughed at Helen Keller jokes.  Even now, as an advocate for my disabled brother in law, I find some of them funny.  I guess I should apologize for it but, you know, it's a type of black humor.   Sometimes you just need to have an inappropriate laugh, before you go back to your advocacy.

I have no idea if Helen Keller found Helen Keller jokes funny.

I decided to look online, and (should I be shocked at this) there are a lot of websites featuring Helen Keller jokes.

 It's a tribute to a great woman (in a way) that over 40 years after her death, people can laugh at jokes using her name, and know what the jokes are takling about.

Although I'm not sure that Helen Keller's favorite color was velcro.