April 22: Deaf people will soon be able to text emergency services from their mobile phones after the government promised to introduce the services as soon as possible.

"We are absolutely delighted with this news. Finally deaf and hard-of-hearing people will be able to feel more safe when they go out into the community," the president of Deaf Australia, Kyle Miers, said yesterday.

Although text messaging was not 100 per cent reliable, it would offer a lifeline to people in emergency situations. The national relay service, which conducts phone calls for the hearing-impaired, already has an emergency number that accepts teletypewriter calls but not voice or SMS messages.

Source: smh.com.au