How Camryn Manheim Is Bringing Deaf Representation to L&O

Ensuring art imitates life is something very important to Law & Order star Camryn Manheim, especially when it comes to deaf representation in entertainment.

That’s why she was so excited for her TV character, Lieutenant Kate Dixon, to use American Sign Language (ASL) on the Oct. 6 episode of the NBC crime drama, during which she used it to communicate with a young girl involved in a dangerous case.

“It was really meaningful for me,” she exclusively told E! News at New York Women in Communications 52nd Annual Matrix Awards on Oct. 26, at which she presented her friend and fellow actress Marlee Matlin with The Matrix Award. “I had asked them to incorporate some deaf characters, and I know that SVU is also doing a storyline with some deaf characters.”

In doing so, Manheim hopes that more shows and movies continue to reflect the diversity of real life, adding, “Not just diverse in color, but diverse in bodies.”

“We need to have disabled people all over the place,” she continued, “people in wheelchairs and blind people and people who have cerebral palsy and deaf people.”