About me
Dr. Anita Small is a sociolinguist, educator, mediator and researcher - inspired to bridge different worlds through communication, arts, language and culture. Founder/owner of small LANGUAGE CONNECTIONS, working with non-profit organizations, educational institutions, museums, theatres, broadcast companies and businesses, she engages diverse groups to co-create collaborative, empowering, award-winning productions, exhibits, resources, curricula, professional training, organizations and programs. She is most known for her innovative program development in the Deaf community. Anita is Co-Founder/past Co-Director of the DEAF CULTURE CENTRE, Canada featuring a museum, art gallery and multi-media production studio. Cross-appointed to Hogeschool Utrecht University, Institute for Sign Language & Deaf Studies, Netherlands (5 years), Dr. Small taught in the Deaf Education Program, York University (12 years) and Linguistics Dept., University of Toronto (9 years). She has authored publications on language planning, empowering performance arts, identity, social dynamics and cross-cultural interaction.Anita has obtained over 19 million dollars in grants and mentors artists and organizations on grant writing (95% success). Dr. Small spearheaded and co-created numerous award-winning children’s books, TV programs, videos and websites. She is recipient of a United Nations Best of the Best World Summit Award/UNESCO (2013) for Deafplanet.com TV series/website and International W3 Gold Winner Award (2012) for the first animated sign language dictionary for kids. She recently co-created the sign language animation guidelines for Canadian Broadcast Television with the Canadian Cultural Society of the Deaf, Sticky Brain Studios, Dark Slope Virtual Productions and Gallaudet University Motion Light Lab (2025). Dr. Small authored the Deaf Artists and Theatres Toolkit, 2016, online guide to engage Deaf performing artists and audiences across Canada and is producing the online training package for sign language interpreters for theatres, museums and galleries across Canada (2025-2027). She served as cross-cultural consultant to the Royal Canadian Mint (2022/2023), Royal Ontario Museum, Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion and on Ontario Museums’ Inclusive Leadership Advisory Board co-creating a guide to inclusive museums. She is author of Ontario’s guide for employers on workplace inclusion (2019). She co-initiated and was evaluator of the Sign Language Institute Canada instructor certification/accreditation program. She is Co-Founder and Curriculum Developer of the Canadian Deaf Arts Academy (2024). Dr. Small has her EdD in Sociolinguistics (1986) and Cultural Mediation and Dispute Resolution Training (1992). Specialist in social dynamics, she has provided cross cultural interaction training, consultation and mediation in the U.S., Canada, Japan, Italy and the Netherlands for over 30 years. Dr. Small is recipient of the singular national award from the Canadian Deaf community (2006) given to a hearing individual.Who I am Video: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/7g9f46ahnvn1xpnkki4bt/Anita-Small.mov?rlkey=xaf2pbp9487qftgimr8f2mcji&dl=0
