Jane Norman

Nellie Jane Norman (September 11, 1939 – April 4, 2020) was a deaf performer, director, professor, and curator, recognized for her work on the faculty of Gallaudet University. She actively promoted deaf culture, language, and art through her contributions to teaching, TV programs, and film festivals. In 2007, she founded the National Deaf Life Museum at Gallaudet.

Early life Born in Covington, Virginia, Nellie Jane Norman, known as Jane, was the child of Frances Christine Thomas Norman and Fred Gene Norman. Both of her parents, as well as her sister Freda Norman, a future actress, were deaf. Norman grew up in Alexandria.

Norman, who was also deaf, studied in mainstream schools until she was 11, then attended the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind, graduating in 1957.

Education and early career Norman enrolled at Gallaudet University, but took time off after two years to work in the printing industry. After training at the Milo Bennett Linotype School in Indiana, she worked in printing around Washington, D.C., and in New York City. While studying at NYU, she became an actress with the National Theatre of the Deaf.

Along with Peter Wechsberg, she won a local Emmy Award for her work on NewSign in 1971.

An activist for deaf rights, Norman was actively involved in the Deaf President Now movement in the late 1980s, serving as the Deaf President Now Council's co-director of media relations.

Her research at the university focused on the depiction of deaf people in media. In 2010, she led the WORLDEAF Cinema Festival at Gallaudet.

Beginning in 2007, Norman worked to establish the National Deaf Life Museum, serving as its director and curator. The museum opened in April 2014. In her retirement, she continued to serve as director emerita of the National Deaf Life Museum, until her death in 2020 in Riverside, California.