| Inspiration is a funny thing. For some people, it comes | | | | Given the horrific personal and family situation, it |
| from daily life. For others, it arises from the | | | | would have been easy for Laura to live a life of |
| accomplishments of others such as Laura Dewey | | | | self-loathing. She most certainly did not. At age 7, she |
| Bridgman. | | | | was enrolled in the Perkins School for the Blind in |
| The Inspiring Story of Laura Dewey Bridgman | | | | Boston. She was the first girl taught through the |
| Laura Bridgman was born as a health baby girl on | | | | tactile technique in the United States. The tactile |
| December 21, 1829 in Hanover, New Hampshire. As | | | | technique involves feeling letters and words that are |
| much as we complain about health care, it is light | | | | raised on parchment as symbols. As you can probably |
| years ahead of the knowledge found in 1829, a fact | | | | guess, she became a wiz at it and broadly educated. |
| that Laura Bridgman found out. At the age of two, | | | | Laura Bridgman also became an inspiration for another |
| Laura caught Scarlet Fever as did much of her family. | | | | person that would become incredibly famous. |
| She recovered from it, but the disease left her deaf, | | | | In 1842, Charles Dickinson visited the Perkins |
| blind and without a sense of smell or taste. As | | | | Institute. During his time at the school, he met Laura |
| difficult as that may sound, she got off lightly | | | | Bridgman. To say that he was impressed would be a |
| compared to her siblings. The disease killed both her | | | | minor understatement. He subsequently wrote about |
| older sisters and brothers. | | | | her and her abilities in his American Notes series. |