Did Helen Keller demonstrate similar paranormal abilities to some people with severe autism?

“The best and most beautiful things cannot be seen or heard, they must be felt with the heart.” –Helen Keller

I have worked with many children and adults diagnosed with severe nonverbal autism. I was taught that the fusion of consciousness renders language deficiencies based on linear thinking obsolete. Subconscious knowledge appears, as a mutual flow of ideas coming to the fore. Unconditional love, trust, and the expectation of competition open this channel. A sense of balance is established. We are in communion. By linking souls, our individual perceptual realities become entangled. I speculate that Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller had a similar bond.

Helen had typical sensory experiences up to 18 months. At that moment, she was struck by a fever. Her age of onset is similar to reports from parents who say her autistic son was developing normally and suddenly regressed. Due to her illness and hearing and vision loss, Helen’s typical sensory processes were disrupted.

Helen was lost until Annie Sullivan arrived. I see a correlation between Helen’s trip and her relationship with Annie Sullivan with some of the kids I’ve worked with. This kind of catalytic relationship is both humbling and inspiring.

Many of the students I worked with demonstrated atypical senses such as telepathy. Helen and Annie’s relationship was noted to have extrasensory elements, according to Dennett’s (1998) article entitled “Helen Keller: Did the Deaf-Blind Genius Possess Ways of Sensing Beyond the Normal?” I speculate that Annie and Helen merged consciousness. Perhaps synchronizing brain waves and sensory systems was the initial “key” that unlocked Helen’s understanding. I suspect that I linked awareness with children with severe autism. I suspect that Helen and Annie also merged consciousness. Perhaps this merger helped Helen experience information through Annie’s sensory system? Lawrence Hutton testified. She wished for her to go, perform any of the “mind reading” acts that professional psychologists exhibit on stage, or in an amateurish manner.”

Many children have selected the word or image I sent them using a form of telepathy. I have also had students write letter by letter and word by word based solely on my conscious thought. I have also had students with limited verbal ability say the words I telepathically sent them.

According to Dennett, Sullivan stated, “Helen Keller’s development suggests to me that one or more facilities may, through discipline, bring the disabled person to less willpower than is required of normally equipped human beings. Very restricted sphere of their potential capacities. They make use of only a small portion of the possible powers and resources of their minds. It is as if, of all their physical resources, they should use only a fraction of each sense.”

I agree with Annie. Typical people, no matter how extreme their cultural differences, have a shared perceptual reality based on information received through their senses. It is natural to develop a different perceptual reality when one has atypical sensory experiences. This would surely have an altering effect on perceptual reality and the ability to interact with the world.

The article mentions Mark Twain’s fascinating encounter with Helen and Annie: “Annie asked, ‘Why is Mr. Clemens distinguished?’ Helen replied, her speech crippled, ‘Because of her humor.’ Mark Twain spoke modestly and said: “And because of her wisdom.’ Helen said the same words instantly, ‘and because of her wisdom.'” Twain says: “I suppose it was a mental telegram because there was no way for her to know what she had said.” I have experienced instant knowledge with my students. Fleeting anticipatory thoughts often resulted in immediate responses.

The article quotes Helen: “I have always had the strong belief that there are powers in many animals that can develop beyond the physical senses, and it is a gratification that orthodox scientists are beginning to look for other causes in addition to the mechanics to explain telepathy … surely if the creatures without the power to reason can perform such wonders, the man endowed with spiritual and intellectual powers that can not achieve phenomen but by laws that still expect to be discovered. “

People with severe autism have shown me that they have developed their senses beyond the ordinary. They are more in touch with subconscious awareness and the spiritual side of life. Their souls have not fully integrated with their bodies. This lack of integration leaves the soul in a unique position, unlike those who have fully integrated, resulting in a greater connection to the subconscious or spiritual self. This lack of grounding leaves the body unsure of how to navigate itself in the physical world. As if in a dream state, the individual has difficulty controlling or categorizing thought. The knowledge itself, however, is vast and covers the innate understanding of universal truths missed by the most integrated individual.

The artist and sculptor Gutzon Borglum, mentioned in the article, wrote of his meeting with Helen Keller: “I will never forget that hour with Helen Keller… From her I learned that the soul, as well as the body, has eyes.” I realized the same thing when I worked with some children and adults with severe autism. Some even seemed to be directing their bodies from outside of themselves.

According to the article, Helen appeared to have a profound out-of-body experience. Helen said: “I had been sitting quietly in the library for half an hour. I turned to my teacher and said, ‘Something so strange has happened! I’ve been away all this time and haven’t left the room.’ What do you mean, Helen? she asked, surprised. ‘Why,’ I exclaimed, ‘I have been to Athens.’ The words were barely out of my mouth when an astonishing and brilliant realization seemed to seize my mind and turn it on. I perceived the reality of my soul and its total independence from all conditions of place and body. It was clear to me that it was because I was a spirit who had so vividly “seen” and felt a place thousands of miles away. Space was nothing to the spirit!

My response to that final quote based on my experiences is AMEN! My students, who are actually my teachers, have been patiently guiding me toward that awareness.

It appears that Helen eventually became completely independent of Annie, functioning in this world without relinquishing her gifts of telepathy, thought sharing, remote viewing, or spiritual connection. I hope that one day people with low-functioning nonverbal autism will do the same.

Reference:

Dennett, PE (1998) Helen Keller: Did the blind and deaf genius possess ways of feeling beyond the normal? Atlantis Rising 17,