Walking Free: The Nellie Zimmerman Story

This inspiring story is about a woman who made national headlines for her many accomplishments. Yet, like Helen Keller, Nellie was totally deaf and totally blind. Her story is about what can happen when people fail to adapt to the needs of the handicapped and what they can achieve when people enable them to be all that they can be. When Nellie lost her hearing her father learned how to talk with her by using the American Manual Alphabet. When she lost her sight and could no longer see his hand signs he learned how to spell his words into her hands. But the rest of the family refused to learn how to talk with her in this way. After her father's death, Nellie was eventually committed to a State Mental Hospital. No one on the staff knew how to talk with her. Nellie lived in silence for 19 years. Upon her release, with the help of her companion, Emily Street, who knew this deaf alphabet, she was able to go to college, became a well-known lecturer, and worked as a life-skills instructor at a group home for deaf and deaf-blind boys.

To learn more about Nellie, explore our Annotated Table of Contents, a review by Anne Dobrow, or buy the book for only $17.95.

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