Jump to content

Talk:Helen Keller: Difference between revisions

Page contents not supported in other languages.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
m Reverted 1 edit by 96.40.202.68 (talk) to last revision by Marteau. (TW)
→Small World: new section
Line 298: Line 298:
[[User:Chanhope|Chanhope]] ([[User talk:Chanhope|talk]]) 08:11, 17 October 2016 (UTC)
[[User:Chanhope|Chanhope]] ([[User talk:Chanhope|talk]]) 08:11, 17 October 2016 (UTC)
:[[File:Yes check.svg|20px|link=|alt=]] '''Done'''<!-- Template:ESp --> [[User:Topher385|Topher385]] ([[User talk:Topher385|talk]]) 23:23, 17 October 2016 (UTC)
:[[File:Yes check.svg|20px|link=|alt=]] '''Done'''<!-- Template:ESp --> [[User:Topher385|Topher385]] ([[User talk:Topher385|talk]]) 23:23, 17 October 2016 (UTC)

== Small World ==

I guess it's a |Small World after all."

Revision as of 05:40, 28 November 2016

Former good article nomineeHelen Keller was a good articles nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There may be suggestions below for improving the article. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.
Article milestones
DateProcessResult
June 20, 2006Good article nomineeNot listed

Template:Vital article

helen keller was born in tuscumbia Apparent conflicting information in article

Not sure if this is the correct place to mention this... however, in the article it says: "She learned to understand speech by reading lips" - this seems unlikely given that she was blind to the point of having her actual eyes removed for cosmetic purposes (also in the article.)  It would be interesting to know how she did actually understand speech - if at all.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.110.235.129 (talk) 03:51, 14 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Should read okay now...
⋙–Berean–Hunter—► 04:47, 14 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
In The Miracle Worker, which is mainly from her autobiography, she "reads lips" by touching them.   7&6=thirteen (☎) 11:33, 15 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I wanted to address this very question by providing specificity.  The statement "her sense of touch had become extremely supple" includes both an inappropriate use of the word "supple" and may insinuate that her identity as a deafblind woman intrinsically allowed her to possess or independently develop a special tactile sensory modality that those with sight and hearing do not have. without providing the context that she was using a specific technique used by others in the deafblind community at the time: either the Tadoma method itself or a very close variant (http://www.aph.org/hall_fame/bios/keller.html).  I suggest the following change to the second sentence of paragraph 2 under the heading "Formal Education":  Original = "She learned to "hear" people's speech by reading their lips with her hands;—her sense of touch had become extremely supple" --> Replacement: "She also developed the capacity to discern spoken English through the use of a tactile lipreading system related to the Tadoma method. Hardwords (talk) 15:50, 1 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Not really a conflict, but additional information. There is a street named after Hellen Keller in Kolkata India. That can be added. Vitalstatics (talk) 04:07, 8 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Helen Keller jokes

I know that the jokes aren't respectful of Helen Keller, but it seems strange to me that zero mention is made of them at all in her Wikipedia article. Is there a specific policy that forbids acknowledging that they exist and are popular? If a 'reputable source' is required, I submit the introduction to her from Marxists.org (http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/keller-helen/intro.htm) which mentions it. They are also mentioned in published works (e.g. Lies My Teacher Told Me). 198.204.141.208 (talk) 23:09, 7 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Further: the jokes about her are mentioned in the Wikipedia page titled "Joke", which cites a scholarly article about them. 198.204.141.208 (talk) 23:21, 7 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The scholarly article referenced more or less says that the jokes are typical of a style of joking, and perhaps of scholarly interest in understanding how such jokes are created and disseminated; not that they explain anything that would be useful to a researcher wishing to learn more about Helen Keller. --Dystopos (talk) 21:58, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I was hoping for something a little more direct: i.e. a Wikipedia policy. I tried looking at the biography and libel policies, but I couldn't find anything that seemed to argue for not including some acknowledgment of their existence. Are you saying that the specific policy against mentioning their existence would be WP:RS? Or is there a Wikipedia policy that says something about all content needing to be useful to a researcher? There are pages about particular people that include mention of jokes made at their expense, for example William Howard Taft (a throw away sentence, but mentioned) and Glenn Beck (a living person who would be subject to heightened scrutiny about neutrality and avoiding defamation/libel). 198.204.141.208 (talk) 22:05, 12 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
WP:RS has to do with what is and isn't considered a reliable source. If the source isn't reliable, an encyclopedia has no use for it.
This issue is a content issue which doesn't fall under one single guideline or policy. CAT:CONTENT holds a list of guidelines and policies that govern content.
In my opinion WP:UNDUE would be the most applicable portion of a guideline. I haven't seen any reason to believe that the jokes hold a significant portion of the subject's history.
Lastly, I think you're confusing defamation and libel with jokes. They're not the same. Defamation which libel falls under, at least legally, refers to false and disparaging statements made about a person that are explicitly stated or implied to be facts. Jokes aren't inherently facts and quite often explicitly not facts so they don't fall under the definition of defamation.
All of that is unimportant for this case. Involved editors would need to see reliable sources that consider the jokes to be some portion 'x' of Keller's Legacy. At that point, the article can reflect that. Otherwise, considering the jokes to be important enough to include with no references would be original research and not suitable for the article. OlYeller21Talktome 22:57, 12 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks OlYeller21, that was exactly what I was looking for and has really helped me understand the applicable issues. I was including mention of defamation/libel because those were the only things I could think of that might be impediments even though they clearly weren't.
This link (http://www.thehistorychannelclub.com/articles/articletype/articleview/articleid/328/helen-keller-speaks) contains a snippet from the book Lies My Teacher Told Me, which considers the jokes to be a portion of Keller's legacy. The particular mention the author makes is, "Presenting a content-free Helen Keller doesn’t induce schoolchildren to venerate her. (Of the hundreds of students whose hero choices I’ve sought, only one ever picked Keller.) It only leads to Helen Keller jokes—you know: “If Helen Keller fell down in the middle of a forest, would she make a noise?” Seventh-graders amused by these jokes are not poking cruel fun at a disabled person; they are deflating a pretentious symbol too good to be authentic. But our loss of Keller as anything but a hollow hero is a crime, and the charge must be grand—not petty—larceny." 198.204.141.208 (talk) 14:38, 13 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I don't know of any specific policy covering the use of jokes about people in their biographies, but I would make use of the general policy that "Wikipedia is an encyclopedia" (specificially, Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information). Since there's no indication that the corpus of jokes about Keller are important to an understanding of her as an encyclopedic subject, there's no positive purpose in including them here. If they are important to American folklore or humor, then that would be the topic under which they would be discussed. If they were terribly important, then a link to that subject from this article might be justified. For comparison, I don't see any reference to corpi of jokes on the articles about the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster but there is a link to Polish jokes from Polish people (keeping the two subjects correctly separate) --Dystopos (talk) 16:41, 13 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I think the author of Lies My Teacher Told Me is making a substantial claim regarding the perception of Helen Keller in popular culture, which is important when it comes to understanding anything as an encyclopedic subject. The information currently in this article is largely silent about what, if any, relevance she has today, in spite of sources to the contrary. I don't think any radical change or listing any of the jokes is necessary (or called for), but something like a single line either at the end of the lede or elsewhere in the body of the article to the effect of, "While prominent due to her political activities in her own time, she is better known in the present as the basis for the Hellen Keller joke cycle." does acknowledge the phenomenon and enhances the article. 198.204.141.208 (talk) 18:14, 14 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
If our goal was to teach, relating or showing Keller's impact on popular culture could (and would in my opinion) have value but as that's not a goal of WP, that's not something we should be looking to do. If there are sources that are reliable that show that the jokes are somehow important, then involved editors can discuss including the information as it's a content issue.
If you can find reliable and secondary sources that discuss the jokes, I would consider supporting the inclusion of a mention in the article but most certainly not in the lede. Depending on the amount of sources that discuss the jokes, I could get on board for creating a section but as only one reference has been provided (Lies My Teacher Told Me), inclusion is a bit premature.
Lastly, Lies My Teacher Told Me was explicitly and admittedly written to be interesting. As WP is a non-profit encyclopedia which doesn't have the goal of making money (like LMTTM) or goal of being interesting, including anything/everything that the book does about Keller or any subject for that matter, is illogical.
For instance, that the History Channel talks at length about conspiracy theories because that apparently gets people to watch their shows which brings is ad revenue. That doesn't mean that every conspiracy theory they discuss should be included in an encyclopedia which is why we're called editors and not transcribers. As editors, we do hold some editorial control. OlYeller21Talktome 18:46, 14 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
FWIW, WP doesn't have explicit goals as goals general imply and end point and WP will never be finished. WP:5P is probably the closest to describing WP's goals, at least to a high degree. OlYeller21Talktome 18:48, 14 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Douglas Eivind Hall, born August 21, 1968, is considered by many to be her male reincarnation. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.103.253.9 (talk) 01:38, 11 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

St. Sava Medal

I read somewhere that Helen Keller received the Serbian St. Sava medal.  Is this true?  If it is, it's notable in a strange way:  the St. Sava medal is the medal that John Wayne gives to the little girl Debbie in the movie "The Searchers".  66.122.183.244 (talk) 07:03, 4 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Helen Keller Institute for Deaf & Deafblind

Empowering the Deaf and Deaf Blind since 1977.

It all began in 1877 when three experienced teachers of the Deaf asked themselves a question: "Who is a deaf multiply handicapped / Deafblind child?" This child was already on our doorstep then. The Helen Keller Institute is a school managed by an Executive Committee which is an administrative body titled as, "The Helen Keller Institute for the Deaf and Deafblind." The Institute is registered with the Charity Commissioner under the Societies Registration Act 1860 and the Bombay Public Trust Act of 1950 and with the Commissioner of Income Tax under Section 80-G of the Income Tax Act 1961 under section 35 AC for 100 % exemption under Income Tax Act. Thus we established, "The Helen Keller Institute for Deaf and Deaf-blind" on July 11, 1977 with 2 Deafblind children, 1 deaf child, 3 teachers, a group of Committee Members and Rs.150/-, in the home of one of the teachers. It is now a pioneering institute in India , in fact in Asia , to start a programme for Deafblind children. Its commitment came from the belief that, "No one is incapable of being taught and no one can do without education. It is the fundamental birthright of every child to be loved and to be educated. It is also the first institute in India to follow the philosophy of "TOTAL COMMUNICATION" in teaching the Deaf, Deaf Multiply Handicapped and Deafblind. Its vision is to create, build and develop services for the Deaf / Deaf Multiply Handicapped / Deafblind children and young adults through Day-Care/Residential Facilities and other ancillary services. 

The Hellen Keller Institute is engaged in education of deaf and deafblind children. The Institute has helped educate and train 32 Deafblind children and 130 deaf children, since its inception in July 1977. At present, the Institute has 25 Deafblind and 64 deaf children on its roll. The institute is now recognized nationally and internationally and is aided by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, New Delhi and Women, Child and Handicappedas she began to speak her teacher taught he Development Office, Maharashtra.We provide free education and per-vocational training to deaf and deaf-blind children.Helen was also dumb as they say when we hear we learn to speak.as she was not able to hear she could not thus speak.Thus her teacher got her out of the darker side of life and taught her to speak.with her first voice being very coarse she was always frightened.her teacher got in her confidence.and she began speaking.then as she began to speak her teacher taught her to put the fingers in the mouth and understand.slowly and steadily she started understanding lip sings and she then was only blind. her deficiencies were partly over.she was confident and she became an authoress.  Please visit our page for more information on our projects.  http://www.facebook.com/HKIDB  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 120.62.10.200 (talk) 20:57, 28 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Political archive

Someone authorized to do so should consider adding this to the external links. It's the best source I know of online for Keller's socialist writings.  It's included in the footnote references. Helen Keller Reference Archive  http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/keller-helen/index.htm  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.72.244.157 (talk) 21:32, 28 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Radical left

As a qualified historian, I found sentence in question rather harsh to the modern day reader. While it is true that the author may have intended to position the political context in the view of Helen's time, it is confusing to the contemporary reader.  Therefore, I strongly suggest this modification "and other causes which, during that time, were considered radical leftwing."

That small modification makes it very clear that the "radical leftwing" is not to be confused with the reader's timeframe, but rather Helen's timeframe.  

While those of us, who are qualified historians, appreciate how to read biographical texts, Wikipedia is for everyone.  Even armchair historians might have to read that sentence twice.  Because it has raised questions from other readers, it should be address and the ego of the original author should take second seat at this point.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.238.51.0 (talk) 08:17, 19 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Is it correct to refer to  helen Keller's work for suffrage and organizing labor as belonging to the "radical left"?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.83.216.141 (talk) 04:50, 5 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

That's an excellent question-- I'd argue "yes, it should." Since political goal-posts are constantly being moved about, pegging a person's political positions in reference to contemporary standards results in a very confusing and constantly changing metric. It is really much more informative to frame said positions in their proper historical context.

This particular article illustrates the point very nicely-- woman's suffrage and organized labor are relatively mainstream, even "moderate" concepts today, but were absolutely radical-left positions to take back when Hellen Keller was writing. Even in her seemingly unassailable celebrity she still took quite a bit of flak for her politics! 68.190.126.114 (talk) 05:32, 5 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Edit request on 13 September 2012

In the following sentence: "She learned to "hear" people's speech by reading their lips with her hands—her sense of touch had become extremely supple", the word "supple" should be replaced with "subtle". 

Her hands may have been supple, but her sense of touch would have been subtle. Ingtam (talk) 00:35, 13 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Done RudolfRed (talk) 02:20, 13 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Name spelling correction

Please note that all references to Polly Thompson should be changed to Thomson (there is no "p" in her last name). Regards, Thomas Flynn — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.46.27.168 (talk) 04:29, 21 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Encyclopedic nature of article?

Even the lede of this article sounds stupidly weaselly and nonencyclopedic... " broke through the isolation imposed by a near complete lack of language, allowing the girl to blossom as she learned to communicate," sounds like some attempt at journalistic/poetic attempt to write a bestseller book... or at least its dusstjacket....

207.216.83.226 (talk) 07:00, 10 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Okay, reading back through the archives of this article, there is SOOOO much clear bullshit... it is astounding.  Too bad she wasn't living, so that we could apply BLP rationales... and then at least have a somewhat more reasonable, less weaselly article.
207.216.83.226 (talk) 07:10, 10 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]
PLEASE READ: http://www.disabilitymuseum.org/dhm/lib/detail.html?id=2430&&page=all ... why is this not a main basis of the article!?
207.216.83.226 (talk) 07:19, 10 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Huffington Post link

The external link to the Huffington Post blog post, while interesting, does not appear to be of sufficient significance to include here. LaMona (talk) 16:01, 13 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

ditto the poems linked in that section.LaMona (talk) 16:02, 13 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Oo

PizzaGuy900 (talk) 01:21, 11 November 2013 (UTC) I née to edit this[reply]

Not done: please be more specific about what needs to be changed. It's not clear what you're asking for. Rivertorch (talk) 05:27, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 15 March 2014

        

99.100.180.95 (talk) 01:43, 15 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Not done: it's not clear what changes you want made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format.  Kap 7 (talk) 03:42, 15 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 30 June 2014

Powellisaac6 (talk) 01:15, 30 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format. Sam Sailor Sing 05:09, 30 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Edit suggestion

Hi, This is my first intervention on Wikipedia, so please bare with me. Since the page is semi-protected and I'm new, I can't edit. But I have a suggestion, maybe somebody who can edit will consider it: I think "labour rights" is a "left" concept and not a "radical left" concept, so I suggest in the second paragraph to delete the word "other" from : "and other radical left causes. " Thanks  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Freekiped (talk • contribs) 12:28, 23 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/matthew-archbold/7-beloved-famous-people-who-were-wildly-pro-eugenics - " 7 Beloved Famous People Who Were Wildly Pro-Eugenics" Helen Keller was Pro-Eugenics: " I know what you're thinking. Come on Matt. Helen Keller was pro-eugenics? Are you crazy? Yes, but not about this.

Helen Keller was blind and deaf but clearly, made a distinction between Helen Keller and non-Helen Keller people. In defense of eugenics, Keller wrote “Our puny sentimentalism has caused us to forget that a human life is sacred only when it may be of some use to itself and to the world.”

She also called for “physicians’ juries for defective babies.” Seriously.

"It is the possibility of happiness, intelligence and power that give life its sanctity, and they are absent in the case of a poor, misshapen, paralyzed, unthinking creature,” Keller said, adding that allowing a "defective" child to die was simply a “weeding of the human garden that shows a sincere love of true life.” Yikes."

Not to defend eugenics or Keller's support of it, but: Helen Keller was blind and deaf but clearly, made a distinction between Helen Keller and non-Helen Keller people -- what horseshit. Eugenics is about genetic traits, not acquired traits such as those caused by infectious disease. Pretty much shows the entire source as unreliable.  --jpgordon::==( o ) 18:23, 17 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 5 January 2015

Please Change the words "radical left causes" to "left-leaning causes" because using the word, "radical" is too subjective. "Left-leaning causes" would be more objective. Borneorib (talk) 00:21, 5 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

 Fixed [1] by Arntzjj.  G S Palmer (talk • contribs) 01:14, 5 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Text box on mouseover

When you mouseover (hover over) the photo of Helen Keller at the top of the page, the text box that appears completely describes the photo, but without including Helen Keller's name.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.251.171.85 (talk) 01:04, 5 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@71.251.171.85: That isn't the purpose of alt text.  It's there to provide a description of the image for those who can't view images on their computers.  The caption is sufficient for identifying who is in the photo.  G S Palmer (talk • contribs) 01:16, 5 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 20 February 2015

Would you add , Hellen was an insporation to evryone in the world , even now...?

Chelseaebeling11 (talk) 16:54, 20 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

 Not done - unless you can find that quoted in a reliable, independent source it is just a PoV - albeit one I agree with. - Arjayay (talk) 17:13, 20 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Broken hyperlink for the external links section "Helen Heller and Anne Sullivan Archive at Perkins School for the Blind" backslash at end causes page not to load.

For the archival material section: Most of Helen Keller's papers (adult) are at the American Foundation for the Blind. Perkins School for the Blind holds many of her papers in addition to early childhood and education materials. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tippatappa (talk • contribs) 17:11, 13 April 2015‎ (UTC)[reply]

 Done The link has been corrected.  Please always add your comments at the bottom of any Talk page and sign your comments using four tildes (~~~~).  Dwpaul Talk   17:17, 13 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Archives

Where can the archived discussions from this talk page be found? Hepcat65 (talk) 10:23, 17 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Hepcat65: Search for "Archives: 1, 2" in the boxes at the top of this page. That has links to two archives.
I moved your post to the bottom of the page which is where new sections are expected. Next time, please click "new section" (or is it just "+" in your skin?) to create a new discussion. Johnuniq (talk) 11:57, 17 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks Johnuniq :) Hepcat65 (talk) 15:49, 17 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

not sure where to incorporate this

On the page Nazi Art#Book burning there is the following quote from Hellen Keller:

“The blind writer Helen Keller published an Open Letter to German Students: 'You may burn my books and the books of the best minds in Europe, but the ideas those books contain have passed through millions of channels and will go on.'” ref Baez 2011, p. 211 /ref

I would like to include this in the article , but am unsure where to put it, can you do it for me? WillemienH (talk) 18:31, 11 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 5 October 2015

Early childhood and illness

One day Helen Keller happened to spill water on her apron, and she spread it out to dry before the fire which was flickering on the sitting-room hearth. The apron did not dry quickly enough to suit her, so she drew nearer and threw it right over the hot ashes. The fire leaped into life; the flames encircled her so that in a moment her clothes were blazing. She made a terrified noise that brought Viny, her old nurse, to the rescue. Throwing a blanket over her, she almost suffocated her, but she put out the fire. Except for her hands and hair she was not badly burnt. Just about this time when Helen was around five years old, she found out the use of a key. One morning Helen locked her mother up in the pantry, where she was obliged to remain three hours, as the servants were in a detached part of the house. She kept pounding on the door, while Helen sat outside on the porch steps and laughed with glee. Meanwhile the desire to express herself grew. The few signs she used became less and less adequate, and her failures to make herself understood were invariably followed by outbursts of passion. Such episodes convinced her parents that she must be taught as soon as possible. Learning Once Helen was stringing beads of different sizes in symmetrical groups—two large beads, three small ones, and so on. She had made many mistakes, and Miss Sullivan had pointed them out again and again with gentle patience. Finally she noticed a very obvious error in the sequence and for an instant she concentrated her attention on the lesson and tried to think how she should have arranged the beads. Miss Sullivan touched her forehead and spelled with decided emphasis, "Think." In a flash she knew that the word was the name of the process that was going on in her head. This was her first conscious perception of an abstract idea. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Anaya711 (talk • contribs) 12:14, October 5, 2015 (UTC) (http://cbseacademic.in/web_material/doc/The%20Story%20of%20My%20Life,%20by%20Helen%20Keller.pdf)

Not done: as you have not requested a specific change in the form "Please replace XXX with YYY" or "Please add ZZZ between PPP and QQQ". That is a long passage from her book, which people can read if they want, but we are not just going to repeat it verbatim. - Arjayay (talk) 12:29, 5 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 13 October 2015

Please make sure other sources have helen kellers death place in Easton Ct, Not westport 69.115.34.43 (talk) 22:40, 13 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format. The article currently makes no mention of Westport. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cannolis (talk • contribs) 0:45, October 14, 2015 (UTC)

Alexander Graham Bell's influence

I'm new to this so I'm not sure how relevant this is but I think it would be good to mention that Alexander Graham Bell helped bring attention to Keller, as well as assisting with paying for her to attend Radcliffe. Source: <http://www.biography.com/news/alexander-graham-bell-and-helen-keller> Emmawreeds (talk) 01:20, 13 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 18 November 2015

The section that talks about Helen Keller Day needs to be properly punctuated. This section: <and sponsors an annual "Helen Keller Day".> should read <and sponsors an annual "Helen Keller Day."> Please remember in the United States, quotations go outside the punctuation. 165.189.200.9 (talk) 17:48, 18 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

  • Not done: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the {{edit semi-protected}} template.
  • I have no idea what type of English this article is using (American, British, Canadian, etc.) and going through the article, the punctuation is all over the place. Some are after the quotes, some are before. I do not feel comfortable just changing one without having a concrete idea of what the normal editors of this page feel is appropriate. For that reason, I am marking this request as not done and deferring to the people who normally edit this page. --Stabila711 (talk) 05:25, 19 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Please see MOS:LQ which explains the rules for punctuation here, which indeed should go inside or outside quotes depending on the context. General Ization Talk 02:52, 25 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 27 December 2015

Hellen Keller was a girl that was deaf and blind. She wasn't dead. 166.173.57.136 (talk) 23:33, 27 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Not done: This article already covers these facts. Did you have a specific requested change? /wia🎄/tlk 23:50, 27 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Can't change link cos it's a semi-protected article — Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.88.123.167 (talk) 01:55, 24 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Please always add new comments to a Talk page at the bottom of the page, not at the top, and always sign your comments by typing four tildes (~~~~). The word pacifist in this article is linked to Pacifist, which is a redirect to Pacifism. There is no need to use a piped redirect to accomplish the exact same objective. General Ization Talk 02:48, 24 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Quotes?

Under the "Companions" heading there are a couple supposed quotes included at the end of the last paragraph: '"While in her thirties Helen had a love affair, became secretly engaged, and defied her teacher and family by attempting an elopement with the man she loved."[24] "Peter Fagan, a young Boston Herald reporter who was sent to Helen's home to act as her private secretary when lifelong companion, Anne, fell ill."[25]'

These are included under the section as though they are direct quotes from the book that is referred in the paragraph. However, the links included instead link to a webpage that discusses the book (secondary source, not primary source), and the quotes are not found on this webpage. Since the accuracy of the quotes is questionable (e.g., the last quote is not a complete sentence), it would be best if someone could verify whether the quotes actually came from the book mentioned, or perhaps from a previous version of the linked webpage, or in fact from the ACTUAL source of the supposed quotes. If these are indeed misquotes, they should either be corrected or removed. Thanks! Jdevola (talk) 12:14, 28 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Tone in subheading on Akita Dogs

The subheading on Keller's relationship to Akita dogs says that "She told a Japanese that she would like to have an Akita dog"; "Japanese" is an adjective, not a noun. Using nationalities, especially Asian ones, as stand-alone nouns is usually seen as dehumanizing (eg. comparing Japanese to People), and should be avoided in the English language. I would recommend a noun be added after "a Japanese" - eg. a Japanese local, a Japanese person, a Japanese breeder, a Japanese man/woman, etc. It should be noted that person-null language is not necessarily racist in intent. It may be an archaism, and in some languages, person-null language is seen as more grammatically correct. DLMacLeod (talk) 15:07, 28 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

A correction to your statement. In fact, "Japanese", "Chinese", "Vietnamese", etc. are both adjectives and nouns according to the Oxford dictionary. Can you cite sources re your claims that:
  1. "nationalities, especially Asian ones, as stand-alone nouns is usually seen[by whom?] as dehumanizing"
  2. "adjectives which end in -an or -ian are often less derogatory[citation needed] than those with endings such as -ish, -ic, and -ese"
I'm sorry, but such a hyper-sensitive approach to language seems to produce the opposite of the intended effect. It reminds me of the Streisand effect, when an attempt to censor something instead produces the opposite. Titus III (talk) 16:46, 28 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I admit my claim that adjectives with certain endings are less rude as nouns was unverified beyond personal experience. I have removed it. However, I would point out that the link you provided only uses Japanese as a collective noun, referring to the Japanese nation. If you looked more close to home at the usage notes for "Japanese" in the English-language wiktionary, you would find that using "Japanese" as a countable singular noun is generally considered incorrect, and with all due respect, I've only ever heard the word used this way by my racist Grandma (though, it is common among ESL speakers). As well, someone here has pointed out that it sounds very close to "a Jap" which is a racial slur according to this very encyclopedia. Ultimately, there is no real reason to leave it this way, if the identity of the person in question is known. However, this is hard to determine as the section being discussed has absolutely no in-line citations. DLMacLeod (talk) 23:17, 28 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 17 October 2016

Please add these points in the Portrayals section.


A 10*7 feet painting named "The Advocate - Tribute to Helen Keller" was created by three artists from Kerala as a tribute to Helen Keller. The Painting was created in association with a non-profit organization ArtD'Hope Foundation, artists groups Palette People and XakBoX Design & Art Studio. [1] This painting was created for fundraising event to help blind students in India [2] and was inaugurated by M G Rajamanikyam IAS (District Collector Ernakulam) on Helen Keller day (June 27 2016. [3] The painting depicts the major events of Hellen Keller's life and is one of the biggest paintings done based on Hellen Keller life.


Chanhope (talk) 08:11, 17 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Done Topher385 (talk) 23:23, 17 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Small World

I guess it's a |Small World after all."

  1. ^ http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/thiruvananthapuram/2016/jul/12/A-tribute-to-Helen-Keller-879851.html
  2. ^ http://www.artdhope.org/tribute-helen-keller-art-raise-funds-blind-students/
  3. ^ http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/tribute-to-helen-keller/article8798547.ece
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Helen_Keller&oldid=751858393"