Imagine being 13 years old, hanging out at your friend’s house, when suddenly your friend’s parents say to you, “There is some kind of operator on the phone for you.” Embarrassing, right?

When I would answer, I hear the familiar, “This is California Relay Service, operator number —- with a phone call from Dacia (completely butchering the pronunciation of our mom’s name).” The same operator, who is a stranger to me, says, “Hi, this is mom.  You were supposed to be home an hour ago, you need to come home, go ahead.” I awkwardly reply with, ” Come on mom! Can I stay here a little longer? Please? Go ahead.” Next, I pause to allow the operator to type to my mother. Then came the reply from the same stranger’s voice,” No, you need to come home now! Love you, go ahead.” To which I would answer, ” Ok, ok, I’ll come home. Love you too. Stop key.”

Once the conversation was over, I would typically be bombarded with questions about what in the world just transpired. Then, I would have to explain how I was talking to my mom through a relay service. 

This scenario is something generally only a CODA would understand without much more of an explanation. Since you are probably wondering what was with all the “go aheads” in the conversation above, here is a breakdown. 

Prior to video phones and internet based relay services, a person who is Deaf or hard of hearing would type their conversation to a relay operator using a device called a TTY, which resembled a digital typewriter. The relay operator would then voice for the Deaf or hard of hearing person. In order to avoid typing over each other, etiquette was developed. To signal that the other person could begin their turn typing, the letters GA were keyed, which means “Go Ahead.” To end a conversation the letters SK were typed which means “Stop Key”.

That’s how hearing people have conversations on the phone right?