Good Morning My Friends,
To continue to bring awareness to the Deaf community this month, I wanted to share an excerpt from chapter 24 of Mom Dad Not Hear: 30 Powerful Stories and Lessons about Leadership, Life, and Love from My Deaf Parents.
The Evolution of Calling the Carolans
I grew up in the days before everyone had their own cell phone. Back then, every home had one phone line (called a landline) which was hard-wired to the phone company. When the phone would ring, there would be a real person who wanted to speak with someone in the home. Every family had its own scenario that played out when the telephone rang. Often, in a home with a teenager, that’s who would yell out, “I’ve got it,” as they would run to answer the phone.
In our house growing up, things were a bit different. When the phone rang, my sister and I were the only ones who could hear it. A moment later, a light would flash in several of the rooms of the house to let my mother and father know that a call was coming in. If my sister or I were home, then one of us would normally answer, “Hello?”
If we didn’t hear the caller’s voice, we waited. We were taught to never hang up if it seemed like nobody was there. Usually, after a short wait, we’d begin to hear beeping tones, like a Morse code sound. That was the signal telling us that we needed to place the handset of the phone on top of the TTY (teletypewriter) receiver. We would sit in front of the machine, which looked like an ancient desktop computer, and we would type, “Hello this is Mickey, GA” (GA stands for Go Ahead). Then the person on the other end of the line would respond, and my mother or father would sit down at the TTY keyboard and take over the conversation.
Being patient and waiting to hear a voice or electronic signal on the other end of the phone was crucial. Sometimes we didn’t have enough patience. If we listened to nothing but silence for too long, we’d give up and hang up the phone. As soon as we had walked away from the phone—without fail—it would ring again. This time we would wait as long as it took to hear several beeps from the caller’s TTY, telling us to connect the machine on our end for our parents.
The TTY was a staple in our house from the time my parents were married until the mid-2000s. That’s when technology started giving everyone— Deaf people included—many more communication options. Internet use was widespread, and Video Relay Services (VRS) began to take over as the primary mode of communication. In the mid-2000s, my parents gave up their trusty but antiquated TTY and joined the VRS bandwagon.
VRS is a much more straightforward and user-friendly communication system. You still hear the ring, followed by a flashing light of the incoming call, but there is no more waiting for the beep and connecting the phone to a machine. With VRS, you either have the opportunity to call from one Deaf person to another and chat using American Sign Language, or you have the opportunity to use the relay service provided, where the Deaf person communicates with an interpreter on the screen who is speaking verbally to the hearing person on the other end of the phone.
Today, my mother and I just use our cell phones and a video messenger app. There are several other options, but we’ve found a platform that my mother understands and is easy for her to use, so we stick with it.
Video calling was a game changer when communicating with my parents. They got to see their children’s faces, and most importantly, they could visually communicate with their grandchildren. The TTY was impersonal, but video chats were totally personal.
In fact, in the six months prior to my father’s death, he would video call us nearly every night and have a blast talking with his -year-old grandson and his 4 1/2-year-old granddaughter. My father and son would compete to see who could be the funniest and flash the biggest smile. Those are precious memories.
I’m grateful for the evolution in the technology that allows Deaf people to communicate with each other, as well as with their hearing friends and family members. Video has made it much more personable and real than the type of conversations that took place via the TTY.
Technological innovation can be great
I believe many of us would agree that we have a love/hate relationship with new technology. We’ve seen it used for both good and evil over our lifetimes.
When it comes to communication, technology has revolutionized how we interact with each other. This has impacted everyone, and Deaf people and their families have benefited greatly. I think there are a few lessons we can all glean from the huge changes in the ways Deaf people have communicated electronically over the past thirty or so years.
First, the TTY taught me that patience and understanding are important. That technology required a specific protocol, and hanging up too soon would result in missed communication. Sometimes those messages were important. The evolution of technology has made communication easier and more accessible, but it is still critical to be patient and understanding, both of the other person on the line and the age and agility of the technological tool we are using.
Second, we should be happy when technology works, and celebrate when it evolves and gives us improved service. The transition from the TTY to VRS was a revolutionary shift in communication options for the Deaf community. The improvement of the quality, accessibility, and options for visual and audible communication it gave people like my parents was paradigm shifting.
Third, technological innovations have helped online communication finally feel personal and real. The ability for Deaf people to make a video call and see the faces of the people they are communicating with has made a significant difference in their enjoyment and satisfaction with the experience. Across continents and time zones, technology continues to bring people together faster and better than ever before and helps them stay in touch with family and friends.
Finally, technology has helped remove barriers to effective communication. Video calls have made it possible for Deaf people to communicate more easily with hearing friends and relatives, and for hearing individuals to have more options in communicating with Deaf people. Language has always been a huge barrier to effective communication. Today countless translation apps enable individuals and organizations to communicate cross-culturally.
Today, if you’re facing communication barriers with someone, don’t settle for just not speaking. Look for a solution to remove the barrier. It may be a technological solution, but it might just require patience and spending time to be sure that your message and your concern for the person is getting through. Don’t let yourself get frustrated and give up. Instead, pursue finding a solution. Keep an open mind, and whether it’s a new technology that provides the key, or spending the time that interpersonal communication requires, embrace the solution and celebrate the breakthroughs. Anything that improves the quality of your communication— especially with family and friends—should certainly be taken seriously.
This Week's Book Recommendation
My uncle had one of the first TTYs, it was a repurposed Western Union Teletype machine. When someone was using it, we all knew because it rattled and shook the floors so we could feel it! The video relay is great for us to communicate with friends. Believe it or not, I still use a tty for very important calls. Sometimes the VRS interpreters are not so good, and in the past few months, we've had two appointments messed up because of the interpreter. I'm not sure if they're using trainees or what. Anyway, with the TTY on these calls, the operator only has to read out what I type to the other party, and type to me what the…