But for the last 10 months, Devigne and thousands of other deaf
people in Pennsylvania have had a new voice of sorts - using a
computer, telephone line and a human voice - that is making the
world a lot less scary. The electronic command center for the
new system is in Wayne, and it passes messages from deaf people
to retailers, doctors, police and friends. On the first day last
year that Devigne used the relay center, operated by American
Telephone & Telegraph Co., she told her mother in sign language:
''Now I can call someone in an emergency. I'm not scared
anymore." Devigne's life has changed in other ways, too. Some
are small: A pizza ordered all by herself. Some are touching: A
surprise bouquet of flowers for her mother. All this adds up to
new independence for Devigne and for about 80,000 deaf people in
Pennsylvania who can now use the relay center for calls anywhere
in the state. To make the connection to the center, a deaf
person types a message into a Telecommunications Device for the
Deaf (TDD), whi