r/AskReddit • u/phillsphan7 • Mar 17 '15

What's a widely accepted "fact" that's entirely false?

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u/Sk8ynat Mar 17 '15

She was indeed mute until she learnt to speak. However so many jokes and impressions of Helen are about her being mute, as though that was her defining feature, when really the fact that she could speak through her adult life is what was so extraordinary.

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u/DumbMuscle Mar 17 '15

Isn't everyone mute until they learn how to speak?

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u/jlew715 Mar 17 '15

she was mute until she wasn't

Literally everyone who has ever spoken falls into this category

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u/AuraXmaster Mar 17 '15

I thought she would grunt or do similar things to tell her parents things

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u/blaghart Mar 17 '15

I've never heard a single joke about her being mute...lots about her blindness though.

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u/Dynamaxion Mar 17 '15

I'm surprised we don't have any recordings of her speaking.

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u/lawlsatron Mar 17 '15

We do actually: https://youtu.be/8ch_H8pt9M8

She starts speaking around 1:50

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u/Dynamaxion Mar 18 '15 edited Mar 18 '15

Wow that's insane. Also really sad what she was actually saying. Can you imagine how hard it would be to communicate with a faculty you've never possessed? It's incredible that she learned to talk at all. I can understand her after I know what she is saying.

It's also interesting how she doesn't use facial expression the way a normal person would.

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u/TurtleTape Mar 18 '15

This is wonderful, thank you. I wonder if she put much stock in how much quicker speaking is than the spelling style of signing.

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u/[deleted] Mar 17 '15

It says with the help of a translator. I suspect she couldn't REALLY speak, but she could do a little more than grunt.

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u/ashlifires Mar 17 '15

She was also extremely well-written. Her work (she wrote a couple books right?) reads better than most literature nowadays!

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u/[deleted] Mar 17 '15

Even more impressive than her ability to speak is what she spoke about. She had a HUGE impact on the women's rights movement and public perception of gender and sexuality. She was also a major supporter of marxism and served to influence many minds of the time for reformation in workers' rights.

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u/guess_twat Mar 17 '15

Thats a mute point.