Utah deaf student, advocates share why Disney’s ‘Songs in Sign Language’ are so important

SALT LAKE CITY — With the release of Disney’s hit songs in American Sign Language on Monday, some members of Utah’s deaf community are celebrating the achievements of their mentors who were part of what made it possible for the animation studio. 

Kelsey was in Kindergarten when she performed with then-14-year-old “A Quiet Place” actor Millicent Simmonds in 2017, during a school play. Simmonds was a student at Jean Massieu School of the Deaf (JMS), just like Kelsey, and had just finished filming for the movie “Wonderstruck.”

Fast forward to April 2026, Kelsey is the same age Simmonds was when “Wonderstruck” was released. Kelsey, a freshman who has been deaf since birth, said she took pride in being involved with her school’s student government at JMS’ sister program, Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind (USDB), and in other activities with the Junior National Association of the Deaf.

Kelsey was inspired by Simmonds and continued performing in school plays. By the time she was in middle school, her mom, Alisa Ensign, a parent advocate and PTA president at Jean Massieu School of the Deaf, said the institution had collaborated with Deaf West Theatre and began holding a competition called the National Deaf High School Theatre Festival. 

The festival brought together students from schools across the country who would participate in workshops, classes and even perform on stage with professional Deaf West actors.

“I love being up on stage,” Kelsey said. “Being able to do something, that, you know, that makes the audience engaged and enjoy it. I like being able to put on different characters and do something really fun like that.”

Disney collaborates with Deaf West

On Monday, Kesley, her mom and other deaf community members celebrated Disney’s release of its “Songs in Sign Language” on Disney+.

The release featured reanimations of three Disney songs from “Frozen,” “Encanto,” and “Moana 2.” Those chosen songs were “The Next Right Thing,” “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” and “Beyond.”

In honor of National Deaf History Month, all of the melodies were reanimated to be told in American Sign Language with the help of eight performers from Deaf West Theatre and more than 20 animators who worked with the actors.

For the ASL remakes, Disney Animation resurrected the original data and pipeline version, reanimated (from near scratch in many places), relit where needed, and re-rendered. Probably the hardest way to do this, but definitely the right way to do it, so that’s what we did. https://t.co/9GB02hqdSR

— Yining Karl Li (@yiningkarlli) April 21, 2026

“I’m thrilled that someone’s thinking about the deaf community and taking a moment to think about something that’s impactful in our communities,” Ensign said. “If you walk into a store and you see a little child, you’re going to see them singing songs from Disney movies and now that deaf children could have some sort of access to that as well is really exciting.”

According to Disney+, the new animation was directed by veteran Disney Animator and Director Hyrum Osmond, whose father, George Virl Osmond Jr., was deaf. Osmond also worked with producers Heather Blodget, Christina Chen and Deaf West Theatre Artistic Director DJ Kurs.

“In the majority of cases, we created entirely new animation,” Osmond explained in a news release. “There were a lot of adjustments that we had to do within the animation to be true to the original intention.” 

Prior to Disney’s release of “Songs in Sign Language,” sneak peeks were released showing Deaf West actors working to make the reanimation a reality. Ensign said it’s been fun to watch those clips knowing the actors have a connection to Kelsey’s school and classmates.

“It’s been fun because a lot of those actors that we could see there have been here in our school, on our stage and teaching the students at Utah’s School for the Deaf,” Ensign said.

For the students, watching their mentor actors collaborate with Disney behind the scenes was important — they got to see them making their dreams come true while advocating for their community. 

“When you come into this school, the youth at our school will look towards those actors that they’ve met and they will be able to think, ‘That’s something I could do one day,’ because they’re getting to see actual role models that are overcoming barriers and being able to create beautiful work,” Ensign said.

A step in the right direction

As a family that enjoys movies and cherishes time together, Ensign said she noticed Kelsey disconnecting with movies at around 3 years old because the films were missing something she needed to better understand what was going on.

Kelsey agreed with her mom and said she felt she didn’t connect with the musical scenes in Disney movies as much.

“Growing up, when they had Disney movies and they have little clips, I always felt like during the music parts … I didn’t really enjoy that,” Kelsey said. “I didn’t understand what was happening as much but now I want to be able to understand it and when they sign it then I can really understand and connect with the music and with what’s going on.”

Kelsey added that she would love to see Disney redesign “the Rapunzel song” like they did with the three other songs.

When it comes to captions, Ensign said it’s a critical, important tool to the deaf community and can help people to better understand a movie plot, but not every deaf person has access to the media through written English alone.

“You will see there’s a lot of people that enjoy that entertainment, that enjoyment in their native, natural language,” Ensign said. “Being able to access what’s easiest for them is super important for their enjoyment and their entertainment.”

In the past, Disney has attempted to add sign language to its movies by putting an interpreter on the movie screen. This happened for movies like “Ant Man,” but it was nothing like what Disney released on Monday.

Ensign said she’s excited to see more accessibility possibly heading towards full feature animation films with deaf characters or ASL animated films. That accessibility is important to her because she feels it unites families and communities when people go out to the arts or movie theaters together and have access to fully understand what’s going on.

“I’ve loved having my daughter involved in a drama company that Deaf West works with that she has an opportunity to act, to be on a stage,” Ensign said. “And as we’re starting to see more accessibility with open captions in films, and now maybe in the future years we can have a full movie in American Sign Language, that excites me that my daughter can live in a time where she can have more access, more acceptance and just get the joy out of life.”