“When Charles signs 'Merry Christmas' to a Deaf child, the room goes quiet — then everyone is in tears.”
— ABC News
ABC News profiled Charles Graves as part of its holiday coverage, framing the rise of Deaf-accessible Santa visits as a meaningful but long-overdue accessibility shift in American Christmas traditions. The piece spent time on the practical mechanics of a Deaf Santa visit — how families approach the experience, how Graves communicates with hearing siblings, and how venues coordinate ASL interpreters when needed.
The network’s coverage emphasized the cultural significance of representation. For most Deaf children, the annual Santa visit has historically been a moment of being signed at rather than signed with. Graves’s appearances flip that dynamic. ABC’s reporting captured several families who had traveled significant distances for the chance — a recurring theme that would surface again in the documentary itself.
The segment helped seed national awareness of the Deaf Santa Claus Foundation’s mission in the year before the AFF premiere, expanding the audience that would later turn out for screenings in cities across the country.
