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Harlan Lawson Lane (August 19, 1936 – July 13, 2019) was an American psychologist. Lane was the Matthews Distinguished University Professor of
Psychology Psychology is the science, scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immens ...
at
Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU) is a private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in Charlotte, North Ca ...
in Boston, Massachusetts, in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
, and founder of the Center for Research in Hearing, Speech, and Language . His research was focused on speech, Deaf culture, and
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 ...
. Lane was born in
Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
. Remaining in New York City for college, he obtained both a B.S. and an M.S. in psychology from
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in 1958. He subsequently received a PhD in psychology from
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
(1960) and a ''Doc. des Lettres'' from the Sorbonne (1973). In 1991, Lane received a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.Lane, Harlan. Northeastern University, July 1, 2010. Web. April 5, 2011. Lane, a hearing man, became an often controversial spokesman for the
Deaf community Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...
and critic of
cochlear implants A cochlear implant (CI) is a surgically implanted neuroprosthesis that provides a person who has moderate-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss with sound perception. With the help of therapy, cochlear implants may allow for improved speech unde ...
. He wrote extensively on the
social construction of disability The social model of disability identifies systemic barriers, derogatory attitudes, and social exclusion (intentional or inadvertent), which make it difficult or impossible for disabled people to attain their valued functionings. The social mode ...
and stated that "Unless Deaf people challenge the culturally determined meanings of ''deaf'' and ''disability'' with at least as much vigor as the technologies of normalization seek to institutionalize those meanings, the day will continue to recede in which Deaf children and adults live the fullest lives and make the fullest contribution to our diverse society." In recognition of his research and advocacy regarding these issues, Lane received the Distinguished Service Award from the
National Association of the Deaf (United States) The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) is an organization for the promotion of the rights of deaf people in the United States. NAD was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1880 as a non-profit organization run by Deaf people to advocate for deaf ri ...
, the International Social Merit Award from the World Federation of the Deaf, and numerous other awards. He was ''Commandeur de l'Ordre des
Palmes Académiques Palmes is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Sir Brian Palmes, English landowner and politician *Sir Guy Palmes, English politician * Brian Palmes MP *Lieutenant General Francis Palmes Lieutenant-General Francis Palmes MP (d ...
'', the highest level of the academic honor given out by the French government. Lane died in France from
Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms beco ...
on July 13, 2019, at the age of 82.


Publications

* Lane, Harlan. 1976. ''The Wild Boy of Aveyron''. Harvard University Press. . (Thomas J. Wilson Memorial Prize 1975) * Lane, Harlan, and Richard C. Pillard. 1978. ''The Wild Boy of Burundi: A Study of an Outcast Child''. New York: Random House. . * Lane, Harlan (ed.). 1984. ''The Deaf Experience: Classics in Language and Education''. Harvard University Press. . * Lane, Harlan. 1984. ''When the Mind Hears''. Random House. . (Download brief excerpt of Chapter 1,
My New Family
.) * Lane, Harlan and François Grosjean (eds.). 1989. ''Recent Perspectives on American Sign Language''. Psychology Press. . * Lane, Harlan, Ben Bahan, and Robert J. Hoffmeister. 1996. ''A Journey into the Deaf World''. San Diego, C.A.: DawnSignPress. . * Lane, Harlan. 1999. ''The Mask Of Benevolence: Disabling the Deaf Community''. San Diego, C.A.: DawnSignPress. . * Emmorey, Karen, and Harlan Lane. 2000. ''The Signs of Language Revisited: An Anthology in Honor of
Ursula Bellugi Ursula Bellugi (February 21, 1931 – April 17, 2022) was an American cognitive neuroscientist. She was a Distinguished Professor Emerita and director of the Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California. S ...
and
Edward Klima Edward S. Klima (June 21, 1931 – September 25, 2008) was an American eminent linguist who specialized in the study of sign languages. Klima's work was heavily influenced by Noam Chomsky's then-revolutionary theory of the biological basis o ...
''. Psychology Press. . * Lane, Harlan. 2004. ''A Deaf Artist in Early America: The Worlds of John Brewster Jr.'' Beacon Press. . * Lane, Harlan, Richard C. Pillard, and Ulf Hedberg. 2011. ''The People of the Eye: Deaf Ethnicity and Ancestry''. New York: Oxford University Press US. .


References


External links


Lane's faculty page
at Northeastern University * Martin, Michel. October 19, 2009
"Deaf Student Body Welcomes New College President"
''Tell Me More'', National Public Radio. * Sanger-Katz, Margot. April 10, 2011
"Deaf-world: The rise of a new American culture"
Q&A, ''The Boston Globe''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lane, Harlan 1936 births 2019 deaths 20th-century American psychologists Columbia University alumni Commandeurs of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques Neurological disease deaths in France Deaths from Parkinson's disease Disability rights activists from the United States Harvard University alumni MacArthur Fellows Northeastern University faculty People involved with sign language Social constructionism University of Paris alumni Writers from Brooklyn