No, this is not the world famous deaf-blind Helen Keller (1880-1968), but the not that widely known Laura Dewey Lynn Bridgman (1829-1889). Both of these women lost their ability to see, hear and to sense smells after falling ill with scarlet fever at a very young age.
Locked into their own senseless privacy both of them were bewildered about themselves and the environment they lived in, but wasn't part of. And, very understandable, both of them had temper tantrums. At the age of 7 Laura was very difficult to control, in her tantrums she went attacking everybody, and the only one she obeyed was her father who was strong enough to restrain her physically.
However, the director Samuel Gridley Howe for the Perkins School for the Blind, which had opened five years earlier, heard of her and offered his assistance. As she was not "only" blind, but deafblind she was considered a hopeless case, but he succeeded in convincing her family that he would be able to help her. That meant that she was enrolled in the school just before her 8th birthday. The focus was on her communication skills which was started by the sign language that Howe introduced for her and her family. As soon as she understood that everything had a name her lessons more or less included the fields other pupils were taught.
When Charles Dickens visited Perkins he was stunned by the looks and abilities of the, at that time, 12 years old Laura's. He told of their meeting in his "American Notes" (1842), thus adding to the fame of both her and her school.
Being blinddeaf never was easy, so what became of Laura? Well, when she was 20 she went home to stay with her family, but as she didn't fit in well enough to have a good life Howe let her come back. Actually, she stayed on Perkins for the rest of her life, thus sort of personalizing the triumph of Howe, Perkins and the teachings of blind and deaf.
https://www.perkins.org/laura-bridgman/
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