Terry Ruane (born 21 November 1946 in Croydon, Surrey) is an English actor and director who became profoundly deaf as a result of meningitis at the age of five. Although educated in an oral school, he is also a

sign language Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign l ...

user, and from 1974 he was the General Manager of the British Theatre of the Deaf under

Pat Keysell Pat Keysell (7 June 1926 – 31 October 2009) was a presenter of the BBC television series ''Vision On'' which ran from 1964 to 1976. She was also a mime artist and administrator. Early life Keysell was born in Tooting, London and brought ...

which was the first-ever professional company of deaf actors to tour Great Britain presenting plays in sign language. When Keysell resigned in 1976, Ruane went on to develop and tour his own company, Interim Theatre Company, which continued for some years and he is believed to be the first deaf person in the UK to co-direct a play, ''Hearing'' at

Birmingham Repertory Theatre Birmingham Repertory Theatre, commonly called Birmingham Rep or just The Rep, is a producing theatre based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England. Founded by Barry Jackson, it is the longest-established of Britain's building-based theatre c ...

in 1979. In the early 1980s he had various projects occupying him in the United States, and was involved in setting up the London production of ''Children of a Lesser God'' and later ran a Theatre in Education project using sign language for children in

special schools Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

. In 1984, he wrote and acted in the first of several BBC

See Hear ''See Hear'' is a monthly magazine programme for deaf and hard-of-hearing people in the United Kingdom, broadcast on Wednesday mornings at 8.00am. The programme focuses on the British and the worldwide deaf community and covers a broad range of ...

Christmas specials during which time he also did a stint on the program as a reporter up to 1996. He has worked both as a lecturer and moderator on a course at

Reading University The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

which specializes in theatre arts using sign language. Now retired he still runs Theatresign, a company that supplies West End and regional Theatres with sign language interpreters including his ex-wife Donna Ruane.

References

Biography of Terry Ruane from Theatreaign
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruane, Terry 1946 births Living people Deaf culture in the United Kingdom Academics of the University of Reading Male deaf actors Deaf people from England Deaf writers BSL users