Editor's note: In this story, we have capitalized Deaf when a person identifies himself or herself as a member of the Deaf community, or in instances when we are referring to the community.

When 11-year-old Lily Molina visited Yosemite National Park for the first time, she was stunned to meet a park ranger who spoke her language.

Lily is Deaf, and usually relies on her mother Kristal to interpret for her when she visits museums or other attractions. But that means her mom can’t fully engage in the thing they’re seeing, because she’s worried about keeping up as an interpreter.

“It puts me not just as the mom and a participant, I have another role,” Kristal Molina said. “That’s fine for everyday stuff, but when we're going on vacation I want to be able to completely join her in the experience. And depending on how long the event is, it's very straining.”

But Yosemite was different.