This article is part of Finding the Words, a newsletter that delivers practical insights on the day’s issues.

At Mission Partners, we help organizations communicate what matters—and communicate it well. We write speeches and stories that capture attention, messages that move decision makers to act, and strategies that engage employees and volunteers to champion bold new ideas.

But none of those desired outcomes can happen without first asking a more fundamental question: How do we communicate in a way that all audiences—not just a select few—can understand and access the message?

Because here's what we know for sure: if you're trying to move people to feel, believe, or do something meaningful, ensuring they can access your message isn't a nice-to-have. It's an essential factor for success.

And for an example of what that looks like in practice, we don't have to look any further than the world's biggest stage.

Like millions of viewers, I tuned in to Super Bowl LX excited to see Bad Bunny's much-anticipated half-time show. I was even more excited to catch a glimpse of Celimar Rivera Cosme, his Puerto Rican sign language interpreter and fellow performer, poised to make her own history-making moment.

As KQED reported last week, her position on that stage came about after a cold Instagram post to the artist in 2022:

"Hi, Benito, Bad Bunny, hope you see this video," she said in Spanish while signing. "Did you know that there are roughly 100,000 Deaf people in Puerto Rico? The majority like your songs, but they haven't had the chance to experience a concert with an interpreter."

A week later, Rivera Cosme was on tour with Bad Bunny as one of his official sign language interpreters, and she's been performing with him ever since.

Watch her Super Bowl performance in this short Instagram clip.

Seeing them both perform on Sunday was every bit as joyful as I had imagined. Rivera Cosme didn't simply translate the lyrics. She delivered a fully expressive performance that matched the music's energy, rhythm, and emotion, enabling more people to experience the show at its fullest.

Celimar's presence on that stage wasn't a nice-to-have. And it wasn't about legal compliance. It was about authenticity, and conveying meaning, nuance, and context in real time. And Bad Bunny's decision to engage her fully—front and center, not off to the sidelines—sent a message all its own: Everyone here matters. And regardless of how you access the show, your way of experiencing the world is important to me.

As we know, the most effective communication supports equitable participation. Without it, people are excluded not by choice, but by design, whether in healthcare, education, or entertainment. Rivera Cosme's interpretation brought those barriers into focus and offered a vivid example of what inclusion looks like on a global stage.

Which brings us back to our daily work as communicators.

Whether you're writing a newsletter, delivering a speech, teaching students, or designing a program, there are concrete actions you can take to ensure your content is more accessible. And those actions start with an answer to this question:

What role will you play in advancing accessibility and inclusion?

It may involve expanding language access (even with a simple translate this post link), but it doesn't end there. It continues in the decisions we make about who gets access, how information is delivered, and why inclusive communication matters in the first place.

So, before you share your next important message, especially one designed to move people to action, pause and ask:

Who gets to understand this—and who might be left out because of how it's presented?
What might wider access to my message look like?
And what if I meet my audience where they are instead of asking them to meet me halfway?

Moments like Rivera Cosme's on the Super Bowl stage remind us: inclusion isn't an extra, it's essential. That's what made this moment feel different. It wasn't presented as 'look how kind we are to include you, 'but rather as 'of course you're here.'

Bottom line: Throughout Bad Bunny's global rise, he has become one of the most beloved artists in the world without abandoning the community that shaped him. In a world that often treats difference as 'something to manage', he treats difference as 'something worth celebrating'. And in doing so, he reminds us of something essential: we don't need to speak the same language to recognize our shared humanity. We just need a willingness to dance together, different languages and all, so that we can see one another fully.

This post is part of the Finding The Words column, a series published every Wednesday that delivers a dose of communication insights direct to your inbox. If you like what you read, we hope you’ll subscribe to ensure you receive this each week.

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