Alexander Graham Bell referred the Keller's to the Perkins Institution for the Blind, who sent Anne Sullivan to teach Helen.
"He held me on his knee while I examined his watch, and he made it strike for me. He understood my signs, and I knew it and loved him at once. But I did not dream that that interview would be the door through which I should pass from darkness into light, from isolation to friendships, companionship, knowledge, love."
(p. 10) The Story of My Life by Helen Keller. Dover Publications, 1996. Originally published by Doubleday, 1903.