Laura Bridgman
Laura Dewey Lynn Bridgman is known as the first deafblind American child to gain a significant education in the English language, fifty years before the more famous Helen Keller.
Laura Bridgman was born in Hanover, New Hampshire, the third daughter of Daniel Bridgman, a Baptist farmer, and his wife Harmony, daughter of Cushman Downer, and granddaughter of Joseph Downer, one of the five first settlers of Thetford, Vermont. Laura was a delicate infant, small and rickety, and suffered from convulsions until she was eighteen months old. Her family was struck with scarlet fever when Laura was two years old. The illness killed her two older sisters and left her deaf, blind, and without a sense of smell or taste. Though she gradually recovered her health, she remained deaf and blind. Lauras mother kept her wellgroomed and showed the child affection, but Laura received little attention from the rest of her family, including her father who, on occasion, tried to frighten her into obedience by stamping his foot hard on the floor to startle her with the vibrations. Her closest friend was a kind, mentally impaired hired man of the Bridgmans, Asa Tenney, whom she credited
Source: Wikipedia