Helen Keller statue unveiled at U.S. Capitol

From CNN, USA Today On Politics blog:
A bronze statue of Helen Keller was unveiled in the U.S. Capitol as lawmakers praised her as an inspiration and a reminder of the value of people with disabilities.

The statue depicts Keller, who lost her sight and hearing to illness as an infant, standing at a water pump as a 7-year-old. It is meant to signify the moment when Keller deciphered meaning in language, when teacher Anne Sullivan spelled “W-A-T-E-R” into one of the child’s hands as she held the other under the pump.

Keller went on to earn a degree from Radcliffe College and the women’s branch of Harvard University, and became a celebrated author and champion of causes including women’s suffrage.

The statue, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, will “always remind us that people must be respected for what they can do rather than judged for what they cannot.”
Alabama Gov. Bob Riley said the statue carries the message that “all of us, regardless of any disability, have a mind that can be educated, a hand that can be trained, a life that will have meaning.”