 Listening to the pushback where people are saying, what, like, so what if we have deaf babies? What's wrong with deaf babies? The two of them explained just how intimate a part of Helen's life Bell was. Alexander Graham Bell had a tremendous influence on Helen Keller. They first met when she was just six years old, when he helped her get in touch with Ann Sullivan. And then they stayed really close. He became almost like a grandpa to her.