A Journey Into the Deaf-world

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In this comprehensive and engrossing study, three distinguished scholars of Deaf culture--one hearing, one deaf, and one coda (child of deaf adults)--offer clear, penetrating insights into the existence and makeup of the deaf world, the community whose natural language--American Sign Language in the United States--is manual and visual. Bringing the latest social and cultural findings and theories into sharp focus, the authors take us on a fascinating journey to discover what deaf culture is; the benefits of signed language and deaf culture for deaf children and hearing people; how deaf children are now educated and how they could be; how deaf people integrate into the larger society; the nature of American Sign Language; how technology helps (and hurts) deaf people; what can be learned from deaf societies in other lands; the future of the deaf world. Combining thought-provoking intellectual perspectives with enlightening first-hand accounts of life in the deaf world, this landmark volume is vital for professionals working in fields involving deaf people and for those with an interest in deaf studies.

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Contents

Chapter 4
47
Form and Function in
78
Chapter 5
124
Copyright

8 other sections not shown

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About the author (1996)

Harlan Lane was born in Brooklyn on August 19, 1936. After receiving both a B.A. and an M.A. from Columbia University in 1958, he went on to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1960 and, later, a second doctoral degree from the Sorbonne in 1973. Lane began his teaching career as a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. While there, he also founded and directed the Center for Research on Language and Language Behavior. From 1969 to 1973, Lane taught linguistics at the Sorbonne in Paris, while completing his doctoral degree there. Upon returning to the United States, he taught for a year at the University of California, San Diego, and then moved to Northeastern University, in Boston, where he is a professor of psychology. He has also served as the department's chair and founded the Center for Research in Hearing, Speech, and Language. Lane has written several books about deafness. He received Harvard's Thomas J. Wilson Award for The Wild Boy of Aveyron: A History of the Education of Retarded, Deaf and Hearing Children. Another book, When the Mind Hears: A History of the Deaf, received the Book Award from the President's Commission on the Handicapped in 1986. Lane was also the recipient of distinguished service awards from both the Massachusetts State Association of the Deaf and the National Association of the Deaf in 1987. Other titles include The Mask of Benevolence: Disabling the Deaf Community and A Journey into the Deaf World.

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