She cleaned. She worked her shift. She kept going. But the hours were unpredictable, the work was physically demanding, and the paycheck was never quite enough. No benefits. Not enough hours. No real path forward. And despite putting in five years of steady, dependable work, Martha was exhausted in a way that had nothing to do with the job itself.
She deserved better. She knew it. But knowing something and being able to make it happen are two very different things.
Martha is 59 years old. She was born in Colombia and came to the United States more than 20 years ago. She is completely deaf and communicates using hearing aids, her own voice, written notes, and American Sign Language. She knows four languages: Spanish, English, American Sign Language, and Colombian Sign Language. By any measure, she is an extraordinary communicator. But when it came time to find a new job, none of that seemed to matter to employers who saw an interpreter in the room and immediately started looking for the exit.
She came to Easterseals New Jersey's Supported Employment program looking for something that had seemed simple enough: a full-time job with benefits. What she found instead was Briana Sanabria.
Briana is a job coach and interpreter with Easterseals New Jersey. She works with clients to build resumes, prepare for interviews, navigate employers, and find the right match. She has seen clients succeed, and she has seen systems fail them. Martha saw both.
"She was always on time for our meeting," Briana said. "Very communicative, very clear. Always happy, very responsible. And she didn't let the search for a job get her down."
Getting her down was apparently something many employers tried to do, whether intentionally or not.
Phone interviews ended before they began. As soon as Briana identified herself and explained that a deaf person was on the line, some employers hung up. In-person interviews were sometimes worse. Briana and Martha would walk into a room together, and within minutes, the interviewer's eyes would glaze over, the body language would shift, and some version of "we'll be in touch" would fill the air. Except, of course, they never would be. One interviewer dismissed Martha before she had said a single word, citing vague "safety
regulations" for a cleaning position that required no customer interaction. Briana pressed him. He had not even asked for Martha's phone number.
"I had to advocate for her," Briana said. "He wasn't even willing to speak to her. I was like, well, that's unfortunate. You don't even know her."
Martha kept going. Month after month, interview after interview, for approximately a year and a half. She was disappointed, Briana will tell you. But she never let it become defeat. She stayed motivated, stayed prepared, and kept showing up.
Then came Winchester Gardens.
Through one of Briana's connections, She was able to set up an interview at Winchester Gardens, a senior living community. They went in. The interview went well. And Winchester Gardens did something that, after a year and a half of rejection, felt almost radical: they gave Martha a chance.
She was hired as a full-time housekeeper in October 2025. She got benefits. She left behind the bowling alley for good.
Martha's background at the bowling alley, where she had worked with cleaning chemicals for years, translated directly into her new role. She already knew the work. What was different was everything around it. The environment was calm. The staff was welcoming. And the residents, many of them senior citizens, began to know her by name.
What happened next is the part of this story that is hard to put in a job description.
Several residents and staff members started learning sign language. Not formally, not in a class. Just enough to say good morning. Just enough to acknowledge her when she came through. Just enough to let her know she was seen.
And Martha was given more responsibility. She went from working a single floor to being trusted to work independently in residents' private apartments. That is not something that happens automatically at Winchester Gardens. It is earned. It means the residents specifically requested her, trusted her in their personal space, and welcomed her.
"Not everyone gets to do that there," Briana said. "That means they trust her."
Martha is also an artist. Outside of work, she creates her own artwork. She is the kind of person who has always had more to offer than the people around her took the time to notice. She has said she wants to share her story, that she has wanted to speak at schools and advocate for others who are deaf and looking for work. She volunteered to do it, unprompted, before any of this was written.
She is thriving. And for the first time in a very long time, the place she works every day knows exactly who she is.
About Easterseals New Jersey Supported Employment
Easterseals New Jersey's Supported Employment program connects individuals with disabilities to competitive, integrated employment. Job coaches provide personalized support including resume preparation, interview coaching, employer outreach, and on-thejob training to help clients not just find work, but build lasting careers. The program serves individuals across New Jersey regardless of disability type, language background, or prior work experience.
