Phones Keep Deaf in Touch with Text
From Detroit Free Press - 04/17/2001

In the last year, the number of SMS (Short Message Service) messages sent
worldwide increased fivefold, to 200 billion. [...] For the hearing-
impaired, they are a lifeline. 

Ahmet Arslan, 34, who lost nearly all his hearing at age 12, walked into the
[BlueTel mobile phone retailer in Berlin, Germany] two years ago after
reading about the message technology. At the time he was an unemployed
highway worker who had to sit by the fax machine to hear from someone. After
he got his phone, he brought so many friends to the store to buy phones and
service contracts that the manager offered him a job. Now Arslan teaches a
monthly three-hour course on cell phones for hearing-impaired  people, who
represent more than 35 percent of the store's sales. And the company has
hired deaf salesmen in two other cities.  

http://www.freep.com/money/tech/deaf17_20010417.htm