@somedeafguy: Did you know I was a manager at Chipotle in my twenties? Did you know I owned a cleaning company, 24-28 employees, 31 accounts? As a Deaf person, anything is possible. You wouldn't believe how many people say to me:
"You're a manager?"
"You own a company?"
"But... you're deaf?" What does my deafness have to do with what I do for a living? Most people assume Deaf people can't communicate. But there are so many ways to make communication work: ASL interpreters, texting, captioning, writing back and forth, lipreading, technology. Communication is never the real barrier. Willingness is. Most people assume we're all on disability. That we can't work. Deaf people want to work. Fear is what keeps us out. Here's the truth: Only about 53% of Deaf adults in the US are employed, compared to roughly 76% of hearing adults. 42.9% of Deaf people have dropped out of the labor force entirely, more than double the rate for hearing people. Not because we can't do the work. Because too many of us stopped trying to convince employers we could. Here's the deeper truth: Employers aren't afraid of Deaf or disabled people because we can't work. They're afraid because they've never worked with us. That's the real disability: lack of experience. That's not just unfair. It's a loss. We can do almost anything but hear. Some of the hardest-working, most dedicated employees I know are Deaf. Employers miss out because of fear and assumptions. So here's my message to every hiring manager, owner, and CEO: Don't let a checkbox decide someone's future. 
Don't be afraid to ask questions.
Get to know the person before you say no. You might be surprised at what we can do. All we're asking for is a chance. And I promise, you won't regret it. If this resonated, share it. Someone in your network might be the hiring manager who needed to read this. That’s the reason why we created @signhello. launching 08/13/2026. Join on the waitlist, link on my bio. (Source: National Deaf Center)

Justin Loncar

Open In TikTok:

Region: US

Tuesday 11 August 2026 13:59:32 GMT