{"id":749156,"date":"2026-06-20T16:31:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T16:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/749156\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T16:31:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T16:31:16","slug":"karin-desalu-raleigh-woman-interprets-national-anthem-for-hard-of-hearing-at-hurricanes-home-games-during-stanley-cup-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/749156\/","title":{"rendered":"Karin Desalu | Raleigh woman interprets national anthem for hard of hearing at Hurricanes home games during Stanley Cup Final"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) &#8212; As thousands of fans stood for the national anthem before each Carolina Hurricanes home game in the Stanley Cup Final, most listened.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">For Karin Desalu, it was a moment she saw.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The Raleigh resident, who lost her hearing at age 10, was selected by the NHL to interpret the national anthem in American Sign Language during the Hurricanes&#8217; Stanley Cup Final home games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;I felt emotional for sure,&#8221; Desalu said. &#8220;It was an opportunity that I was blessed to have.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Desalu says interpreting the anthem is about much more than translating words.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;American Sign Language is a 3D language,&#8221; she explained. &#8220;You incorporate body language and facial expressions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">She spent weeks preparing, practicing constantly-even in the grocery store-to make sure she captured both the meaning and emotion of the anthem.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The experience also gave her a deeper appreciation for the <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/fans\/nhl-in-asl\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NHL&#8217;s efforts to make the sport more accessible<\/a> for deaf and hard-of-hearing fans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;The National Hockey League is accessible for the deaf and hard of hearing,&#8221; Desalu said. &#8220;It really inspired me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">She received an outpouring of support from the deaf community, with many calling her performance empowering and inspiring.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">But the moment she&#8217;ll remember most happened after the anthem ended.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">As the crowd applauded, one security guard, who does hear, congratulated her using deaf applause &#8212; raising his hands in the air and waving them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;That hit me hard,&#8221; Desalu said. &#8220;That was a big impact for me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">For Desalu, the Hurricanes&#8217; Stanley Cup run was about more than hockey. It was about inclusion, representation, and making sure every fan could be part of the moment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \"><a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abc11.com\/apps\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Download the ABC11 News app<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2026 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) &#8212; As thousands of fans stood for the national anthem before each Carolina Hurricanes home&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":749157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[359874,64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-749156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-359874","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=749156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/749157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=749156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=749156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=749156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}