Text Messaging rise to fame was not felt in the United States until less than a decade ago. Now, we see the value of its use (especially in helping individuals that have hearing problems) with communication.

In a way, text messaging is able to give the deaf community a sense of independence. They can just carry a phone with text messaging capacity and they are able to communicate with anyone, anywhere in the world. If it were not for the text messaging capacities of most phones; people with hearing disabilities would have had to use a TTY, which is a specialized text telephone.

With use of text messaging, a deaf individual is able to ask for help in emergency cases. Several Emergency Service Stations in the UK and the United States are working to accommodate emergency reports via text message.

Also, cell phones are readily available and are often quite affordable. It is also worth noting that with cell phones being a constant in today’s society; having one does not point out to a disability like the way some gadgets would.

However, there are a few disadvantages to the deaf using cell phones and text messaging. One is that cell phones interfere with the individual’s hearing aid. It is therefore recommended to keep a cell phone as far away from the hearing aid as possible; and only use the cell phone when necessary.

Another issue is that most wireless carriers only offer the text messaging feature as an add-on to Voice Only Plans. This means that a Deaf individual would have to pay for the Voice Only Plan (a feature which they obviously would not be able to use) before they can avail of the text messaging feature. To resolve this, deaf communities are in talks with wireless carriers to have them offer SMS only plans.

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