NHL brings in sign language interpreter for commissioner

DENVER — Brice Christianson went to sporting events as a child and realized how inaccessible that world was for his deaf father. Sign language interpreters have been present for national anthems, but this represented the NHL’s biggest step yet to make the stories around hockey available to the deaf and hard of hearing community. “We’re just scratching the surface,” said Christianson, who is the CEO for P-X-P, which specializes in making sports and entertainment more accessible for the deaf and hard of hearing. “Fans are diverse, and deaf and hard of hearing people belong in that,” he said in American Sign Language as interpreted by Christianson. “Ideally, every team, every league has some sort of accessibility and inclusion in mind for deaf and hard of hearing fans but also for people with disability and how we maximize that and include them rather than sort of tokenizing them.” Bill Millios, interim CEO of Deaf Main Street, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping deaf-owned businesses, said there is reluctance in that community to acclimate to improved access based on concern it won’t become a permanent thing.