Harlan Lane

Harlan Lane
Harlan Lawson Lane (August 19, 1936 – July 13, 2019) was an American psychologist. Lane was the Matthews Distinguished University Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States, and founder of the Center for Research in Hearing, Speech, and Language . His research was focused on speech, Deaf culture, and sign language.
Lane was born in Brooklyn, New York. Remaining in New York City for college, he obtained both a B.S. and an M.S. in psychology from Columbia University in 1958. He subsequently received a PhD in psychology from Harvard (1960) and a Doc. des Lettres from the Sorbonne (1973). In 1991, Lane received a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.
Lane, a hearing man, became an often controversial spokesman for the Deaf community and critic of cochlear implants. He wrote extensively on the social construction of disability 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 International Social Merit Award from the World Federation of the Deaf, and numerous other awards.
He was Commandeur de l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques, the highest level of the academic honor given out by the French government.
Lane died in France from Parkinson's disease 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 and Edward Klima. 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.
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
American disability rights activists
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
MacArthur Fellows
Northeastern University faculty
People involved with sign language
Social constructionism
University of Paris alumni
Writers from Brooklyn