Since each company, and each relay opr is different in their in preferences and what not, I will answer each question for myself as well. Just to give you guys an idea. Remember that as far as the call goes, you can communicate with the operator about how you want it to flow as much as you want, and most operators will be happy to fulfill any special requests you may have. If you like things done a certain way, and it doesn't seem to be happening that way, just address the opr and ask them to help you out!
1. how does a deaf, hoh or deafblind relay user handle hearing people who continue to talk over them while they are typing a response? i've had situations where i was in the middle of typing when all of a sudden the ca overrode me by typing what the hearing person said even before i've had a chance to finish typing. i thought it was the policy of all ca's to inform hearing people that the deaf, hoh or deafblind person is still typing?
2. how often are abbreviations used in relay changed and what determines when these changes are made? there have been times where i have been unfamiliar with a few abbreviations because i was unaware of their existence. since i read relay conversations with a braille display, i find it much easier to have the ca type words out completely so that i can understand what is being typed.
1.) Our company has a strict policy on this. We are NOT to interrupt the typing caller, because they own the call. If the hearing party begins to speak while the caller is typing, our general response is "Please hold with your response, the caller is currently typing". If you are not getting this kind if courtesy, as I suggested, I would address the opr directly and ask them to not type over you, but be polite
2.) Abbreviations can vary from opr to opr, and company to company, I don't think there is a set standard of abbreviations, so once again, this is something you can always clarify with your opr. If you are unsure about one, just ask! Also, it wouldn't hurt to ask at the beginning of the call to NOT use abbreviations, but remember that it is tough for an opr to remember to do this mid-call, because we get used to typing certain shorthand phrases to help us keep up with the hearing party. We especially use abbreviations and short hand when dealing with automated systems, because we can't make them slow down.
Yay no more anrgy.
Oh yes. every time, i make a call to someone, and then the relay operator had to explain to the hearing person about your job . i am so curious what did the relay operator explains to hearing people? they often hang up when they thought the relay operator was a telemarketer.:roll:
I sometimes ask the relay operator not to explain to the ignorant people before they wouldnt hang up on. I dont know if it 's working that way.
first: what did you tell them about relay operator's job.
second: does relay operator feel comfortable when i ask them not to explain the relay operator's job??
i sometimes ask operator like, how does this persons voice tone sound like etc do relay operator dont mind or do mind?
im sure i have many questions that will come to me.
1.) We explain how a relay call works. We just explain the "GA" system and that the person is using a computer. If you want us to give out any other information, just let us know! For instance, if you say "Call 555-555-1234, and tell them I am deaf and use relay" Then when we are explaining how to use it, we can tell them that you are a deaf person, and eliminate a lot of confusion.
Otherwise, no, we cannot say that the person calling is deaf or not, all we can say is "This is a service intended for deaf/HOH"
2.) Personally, it depends on the situation. If you're making a quick call about hours or to order food, it's fine, especially if it's a busy company, it makes the call flow a lot easier. But, if you don't want us to explain relay, make sure you give us all of your details before we call, that way there aren't long pauses where we have nothing to say in response to the hearing party.
Just imagine...
Hearing: Hey there, can I get your name pls?
Opr:...Hold on...
Caller: Bob Smith
Opr: Bob Smith
Hearing: Ok...and your DOB?
Opr: Hang on...
etc, etc
It doesn't flow right. So for instance, if you want to order a pizza and don't want to be hung up on by the people who don't understand relay just put this in the info box: "Call 555-555-5555 to order pizza, tell them delivery, my ph nbr is 432-344-3531 and i want a large pepporoni, get total and time to deliver pls"
Makes things much smoother.
3.) Relaying voice tone and background noise is part of our job. Do not hesitate to ask, but a lot of times if there are no distinct emotions in their voice it is tough for us to give you a good idea of how it sounds. So keep that in mind, many times we will use things like "pleasant" just meaning that they sounded ordinary, no real emotion.
Do you find annoying if anyone don't use "ga" or "sk" to know if somone is finish the conversation before next turn to speak up?
I don't think that it's annoying, as long as you indicate this preference at the beginning of the call, it will eliminate a lot of confusion. However, it makes the call flow a little bit more difficult, I prefer using GA's because then it's much easier to know for sure when the caller is finished typing. Otherwise, you run into a lot more issues with people trying to speak/type over each other.
Using SK is pretty important, when you type SK it's really the only way we can initiate the end of the call (we are not allowed the terminate the call unless you indicate so). I would say SK is pretty essential, even if you choose not to GA's.
hearing people are guilty of doing the same thing.
one thing i like to do is to tell the sighted-hearing person i'm talking to that they can end the call by saying, "ga or sk" or "sksk."
Hearing people are not aware of the "SK" system, at least with my company, we explain GA's only and not SK. When you type "SK" we voice something along the lines of "Opr here, the caller has indicated they are getting ready to disconnect".
i always make it known that i'm communicating to the ca by placing my comment and/or question in parenthesis and directly addressing him/her.
for example, i'll type something like (ca: spell last name) or (ca: is hearing caller still on the line?)
Perfect.
Ok .. I had assumed you did tell the person on the other end that this was a call from a deaf person. Because so many times when I make a call to a place that I haven't called before, they hang up on me before I get to say anything. I assumed the minute they heard it was a call from a deaf person that was all it took for them to hang up. So why exactly are they hanging up on us, then? Can you walk us through the actual placing of a call to the point that we start talking, assuming they haven't hung up on us yet? This is a common problem for many of us.
Usually, they hang up because they think that we are trying to sell them something, or we are some sort of promotional caller. It's not that they do not like deaf people, etc. Some people will also not accept relay calls because of the fraud that goes on (I think everyone is aware of this)
Our call flow is like this:
Ringing 1... 2...
Answer: Hello?
CA: Hello, this is CA ---- (numbers) with a relay call, are you familiar with relay?
Hearing: What? No!
CA: You are receiving a call from a person who is using a computer, they will be typing and I will voice to you what has been typed. When you hear the words "GO Ahead" that means that the caller has finished typing and it is your turn to respond. Please speak slowly and directly to the caller, and I will type everything from your end of the line. When you are finished speaking please say "Go Ahead" to indicate it is the caller's turn to type. Do you understand?
Hearing: Yes!
I hope that clears it up, any more questions, just ask!
thank you for answering my questions.
i wanted to clarify an example of the ca typing over me.
for example, a conversation might go like this:
hearing person: what is your social security number?
me: (starting to type) xxx-...
hearing person: (while i'm still typing) could you also let me know your date of birth?
me: (continuing to type) xxx-xx-...
hearing person: hello?
me (continuing to type) ....-xxxx.
hearing person: i'm sorry. what is your social security number and date of birth?
it's very confusing because i'm only able to read one braille line at a time. i always tell the ca in my instructions to them that i'm deafblind and use a braille display, but this doesn't always eliminate the confusion/problems i have with a sighted-hearing person on the other end of the line.
fyi, many deafblind people (like myself) communicate through relay by using a device called a telebraille.
you can learn more about it
here
I understand your frustrations and like I suggested earlier, I would advise you to address the opr directly at the beginning of the call and indicate your preferences.
is there a requirement on how many words per minutes the opr. Can type.
I'm asking this because I'm often asked to slooow down. When talking. It frustrates me because it interupts my train of thoughts. It is not like I speak 90 mph.
Yes. 60 WPM minimum. Our company has recently increased it to 65 WPM, but the FCC regulated 60.
You would be surprised how quickly you can speak. Our certification test recording is spoken at somewhere around 88 WPM, and it's noticeably slower than conversational rate of speech. Remember that we are required BY LAW to type EVERYTHING word for word, from the hearing party.
personally, i don't understand why it's so difficult to use ga since some ip relay services automatically insert a ga after the enter key is pressed.
if a deaf, hoh or deafblind person refuses to use ga (provided they aren't a new relay user and have simply forgotten to type ga), i think that's just being lazy.
after all, (if they're using a service that doesn't automatically place a ga at the end of what is typed), how hard it is really to type 2 additional letters?
one other thing i wanted to add about slower typing is that i let the ca know in advance that i have severe cts (carpal tunnel syndrome) which may affect my typing accuracy and speed. this helps avoid confusion on the ca's behalf since it is expected that i will type slower and with some spelling errors.
Agreed, and thank you for indicating your operators of your special conditions, makes our job a bit easier.
