Anne Sullivan Macy (1866-1936) was a woman whose brilliance, passion, and tenacity enabled her to overcome a traumatic past. She became a model for others disadvantaged by their physical bodies, as well as by gender or class.
Anne was born on this day, April 14, in 1866—the eldest daughter of poor, illiterate, and unskilled Irish immigrants. She grew up to become a pioneer in the field of education. Her work with Helen Keller became the blueprint for education of children who were blind, deaf-blind, or visually impaired that still continues today. Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) dubbed her a "miracle worker."
However, Anne's personal story remains relatively unknown. Although some of her letters still exist, it is primarily through the eyes of others that we know her. Some time after she married John Albert Macy in 1905, the young wife burned her private journals for fear of what her husband might think of her if he should read them. Similarly, she did not want her correspondence to be kept after her death. But for historical purposes, materials were retained and the Helen Keller Archives at the American Foundation for the Blind contain some of her letters, prose, and verse. Other materials about Anne are located at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts and the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts.
AFB's online museum, Anne Sullivan Macy: Miracle Worker shows Anne through her own words, as well as through the eyes of others, as the remarkable woman whose life and teaching philosophy remain an inspiration to those who educate children who are visually impaired. In 2003, Anne Sullivan Macy was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame and the American Foundation for the Blind was privileged to receive a medal in her honor.
"By nature she was a conceiver, a trail-blazer, a pilgrim of life's wholeness. So day by day, month after month, year in and year out, she labored to provide me with a diction and a voice sufficient for my service to the blind."
—Helen Keller, writing about Anne Sullivan
At AFB's public policy center in Washington, D.C., we are honoring Anne's legacy by working with advocates from the deaf/hard-of-hearing and deafblindness education fields on legislation called the Alice Cogswell and Anne Sullivan Macy Act. This is the most comprehensive special education legislation ever drafted for children and youth with vision or hearing loss. For students with vision loss, this Act:
- supports identification, location, and evaluation
- requires states to ensure evaluation of students by qualified professionals using valid and reliable assessments
- requires states to ensure they provide sufficient, qualified personnel to support students
- requires states to provide instruction that meets students unique learning needs, including assistive technology, social skills, career skills, etc.
- establishes a national Anne Sullivan Macy Center on Visual Disability and Educational Excellence to conduct/fund research, continuing education, enrichment projects, and personnel preparation.
The Cogswell-Macy Act was introduced in the previous Congress but has yet to be reintroduced this year. The bill's reintroduction will be an historic declaration by the sensory disabilities community that America's current special education system must innovate dramatically to be truly worthy of the potential of all children and youth who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, visually impaired, or deafblind.
You can celebrate Annie's birthday by reaching out to your two U.S. Senators and your House of Representatives Member and urging them to support the Cogswell-Macy Act, and by making a donation to support AFB's advocacy work. Thank you!
