ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The mailroom where Amanda Bolton works is a symphony of noise — machines humming, envelopes shuffling and boxes being prepped for shipment. But Bolton tunes it all out and focuses on the work in front of her — a skill she attributes in part to a lifetime living with hearing loss.
“Some days, I’m just like tunnel vision,” Bolton said. “I don’t hear like everybody else, but it allows me to be more focused on what I need to do, as opposed to being distracted by other things going on.”
Bolton, 58, has worn hearing aids since she was 1. She received a cochlear implant five years ago after her hearing significantly worsened in 2019. It was that same year that she started working at Adelante Mailing Services, one of several businesses run by Albuquerque’s Adelante Development Center, which helps connect people with disabilities with resources and employment opportunities.
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Originally from Louisiana, Bolton came to New Mexico in 1998, drawn by opportunities within the world of martial arts. She quickly fell in love with the weather and the state’s abundant resources for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
“When I moved out here, I would say I probably had more resources in two years than my entire life,” Bolton said.
Staggering stats
Even with the available resources, many in the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities and disability advocacy spaces agree that the employment picture for hearing-impaired workers across the United States and locally is bleak.
The employment rate for the hearing population nationally between 2020 and 2024 averaged roughly 72%, while a little over half — 55% — of deaf people were employed during that time, according to the National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes, citing U.S. Census Bureau data.
For New Mexico, the gap was even wider, with 67% of nondeaf New Mexicans and 46% of deaf New Mexicans employed between 2020 and 2024. The state ranks 49th for deaf employment, according to the National Deaf Center’s 2020-2024 New Mexico report — though the report indicated the center did use a small sample size, making the results a little less detailed than the national numbers.
“The stats are bad, and that even includes people that are trained to do things and that have college degrees,” said Jill Beets, Adelante’s vice president of marketing. She said the numbers are even more staggering for people who are deaf and have additional disabilities.
“I think sometimes people just look at what people are not going to be able to do … and they don’t really focus on what the person has the ability to do,” Beets said.
The state and nation’s full-employment outlook isn’t all gloomy. In 2024, the national employment rate for deaf people hit a record high of 58%. That year, New Mexico also rose to 51%, according to Census Bureau data.
Overall, deaf employment rates have grown more rapidly than rates for the hearing population over the past decade, according to the National Deaf Center. More recently, deaf and hearing professionals working full-time jobs also had the same median annual income, and 11% of employed deaf adults were self-employed compared to 9% of hearing adults, the center says.
Strengths and challenges
In Beets’ experience working with the many people with disabilities at Adelante, she has seen them become “key parts” of the organization’s operations. These employees, she said, bring unique strengths, such as thoughtful communication and attention to detail.
While Bolton’s hearing loss comes with what she considers strengths, it also has its challenges.
“Doing the job is not the challenge; I love it. I love multitasking,” Bolton said. “But sometimes I feel like I’m in my own little world because it’s noisy and (nondeaf) people can communicate in the noise, and they can understand each other. If it’s noisy and somebody wants to talk to me, I have to really focus on what they’re saying.”
For Bolton, this means struggling to connect with coworkers and participate in the typical workplace chit-chat that nondeaf people engage in, sometimes across the room and cubicles, all while looking at their computers.
“You feel isolated, you feel really alone … and then you question a lot too,” Bolton said. “You question (if) you are good enough. And I know I’m doing good. I know I’m qualified to do what I’m doing, but you still have those doubts.”
At the employer level, bias also plays a role in the employment challenges deaf people face, specifically during the job-seeking stage. But Beets said misconceptions are often at the heart of why more businesses are hesitant to onboard workers with disabilities.
“People wonder how they’re going to be able to accommodate them,” Beets said.
Businesses often worry about training and the cost of building in physical and technological accommodations. But Beets said people who require extra help often come prepped with their own job coach. There are also funds available for accommodations, which Beets said on average cost $300.
Small businesses are also eligible to claim tax credits for accommodation expenditures, including providing “qualified interpreters or other methods of making audio materials available to hearing-impaired individuals,” according to the state’s tax form 8828.
Bridging the gap
While state resources are plentiful, Raphael Martinez, co-founder and executive director of Albuquerque Sign Language Academy, said there are few post-secondary program structures in place to help prepare deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, especially those with additional disabilities, for the workforce.
The academy’s nonprofit counterpart, the ASLA Foundation, aims to bridge that gap through a first-of-its-kind workforce development program dubbed the New Mexico Developmental Disability Workforce Training Center, or NMDDWTC, which has been in the works for about a year and a half.
While the initiative is separate from ASLA and its work as a charter school, the program will provide support that currently does not exist for ASLA students who age out of the public education system at 22. Adults with developmental disabilities who are not associated with the school would also be welcome in the program.
With an adaptive coffee trolley and a former strip mall-turned-arts center that is part of the ASLA property just off Second Street, the program will offer adults 22 and older classes, training and work experience across retail, agriculture and consumer services.
The program will complement work the school has already begun in the retail space, offering students barista training through a coffee station setup — organized to cater to varying degrees of ability — at the North Fourth Art Center.
This past school year, students began operating the Honey Badger Coffee Trolley — a name inspired by the academy’s mascot — as a real business at various locations, including the PAH! Hiland Plaza on Central Avenue.
The plan is to station the trolley primarily at the North Fourth Art Center, in front of a space that will soon become a store where NMDDWTC clients will work and sell honey made from honeybees ASLA students are raising. The ASLA Foundation is aiming to fully launch NMDDWTC operations and a year-round trolley schedule at the center this August, Martinez said.
The foundation will source its coffee from Albuquerque’s Cutbow Coffee — a partnership Martinez and Cutbow owner Paul Gallegos hope serves as a pipeline for those who gain enough experience and want to advance in the industry.
“I see this as a really good opportunity to not only work at Cutbow, but in any coffee shop, because it’s such a marketable skill,” Gallegos said.
‘A purposeful existence’
The industry has already caught the attention of one Honey Badger Coffee Trolley barista.
Joey Smith — a profoundly deaf, 18-year-old graduate of the academy — is currently helping the academy with its afterschool program through a paid internship with Bernalillo County. But his dream is to continue gaining experience in the coffee world and potentially launch his own coffee shop and community center someday.
“I love interacting with the other people, and I just want to see everyone happy. It’s my favorite part,” said Smith, communicating in sign language, verbally translated by interpreter Errol Bennett. “I love making the espresso; it feels more advanced. I want to keep on going with that.”
Smith is one of 65 young adults the school is prepping for the workforce. With the addition of NMDDWTC, Martinez hopes to see up to 200 adults with disabilities served by June 2028, if funding and resources allow.
Other local businesses that could serve as landing spots for students include Three Sisters Kitchen, Albuquerque Florist, Red Shovel and Feather Duster. Martinez said the primary goal is to offer the academy’s students and clients “a purposeful existence” and a “reason to wake up, shower, go outside and engage with the world.”
Bolton shared Martinez’s perspective on the value of work for people with disabilities, saying she believes the workforce is where people learn, mature and grow the most — professionally and personally.
With new efforts popping up, Bolton said she hopes to see employment rates for deaf and hard-of-hearing communities continue to rise, and that younger generations continue to defy the odds, chip away at barriers and forge new pathways in the workforce.
“Keep doing it. If you hit a roadblock, it’s OK. Keep going and learn from it,” Bolton said. “Having a disability … doesn’t have to stop you from doing what you want to. If you want to do it, you can do it. Don’t give up.”
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