Empowering the Hearing Impaired
When Magna’s Sabinas division in Mexico opened its doors to hearing-impaired employees 15 years ago, it created an environment where differences are embraced as catalysts for growth, learning and innovation for all. Today, there are eight hearing-impaired production employees at the facility which makes seating systems for global automakers.
Mutual benefits opened up when supervisors like Diana Laura Sanchez, who is able to hear, showed an eagerness to learn Spanish sign language, and turned to the facility’s hearing-impaired employees to teach her.
“They taught me the alphabet in sign language the first day,” Sanchez recalled. “The next day, they asked ‘What did you learn?’ The first sentence I signed was asking permission to go to the restroom. By the end of the month, we could communicate effectively.”
“An inclusive working environment is a competitive advantage.”
Others joined Sanchez in learning to sign, including four team leaders, while management continued to implement ways to bridge communication between all employees. The support of hearing-impaired employees helped the Sabinas division win an award for diversity and inclusion from the state government in October 2023.
In 2024, the division began providing subtitles in real time on screens throughout the plant during employee meetings, presentations and other events. Captioning on video media is not just a benefit for the hearing-impaired, it has become a must-have for younger employees as well.
Diana Margarita Juantos Hinojosa credits the Magna culture and Core Values for fostering an inclusive working environment for people with disabilities. She lost her hearing at age one from a throat infection, and learned about the company through positive posts on a Facebook page for the hearing-impaired.
“I’m growing professionally at Magna and continuously learning,” said Hinojosa, a seven-year Magna veteran. “I love the environment. I’m cross-training here as a production assistant and I’m learning sign language in English.”
Sabinas General Manager Juan Carlos Rodriguez expects the positive reaction to Magna’s culture to boost a new recruitment campaign to add 600 employees starting later this year.
“An inclusive working environment is a competitive advantage,” Rodriguez said.
It also makes the workplace a bit more fun. Ulises Lozano, the division’s Assistant General Manager, is learning sign language and is now able to share the score of his favorite soccer team with everyone on the assembly line – without saying a word.
Second row - Jorge Alberto Navejar Lopez, Gabriel Sillas Lucio, Josue Alberto Gallardo Castillo
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