- Email:
- jeharlan@indiana.edu
Jane Harlan-Simmons is a research associate with the Center for Health Equity (CHE) at the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community, Indiana University, Bloomington.
Harlan-Simmons is project coordinator for the Indiana Disability History Project, including its online exhibits and oral history database. She is also project coordinator for the initiative Improving Sexual Health Literacy and Advocacy Skills for Adult Women with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Indiana. She writes and produces online e-learning modules for the IIDC Interdisciplinary Education Program Training Program. Harlan-Simmons previously administered the annual international Memory Bridge Training Retreat and scholarship program, with the goal of reducing the emotional isolation of people with dementia. She co-founded ArtsWORK Indiana, an initiative promoting arts-related employment for people with disabilities.
Degrees
Harlan-Simmons holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Trinity College in Hartford, CT and a Master’s Degree in Art Therapy from New York University.
Personal Statement
Jane is passionate about bringing the voices of marginalized people to those influential in the lives of people with disabilities, including health professionals, disability service providers, and policy makers, as well as to the general public.
Research Interests
- Disability History
- Disability and Sexual Health
Publications
- Harlan-Simmons, J. (2015, summer). The sweetest little boy I ever knew: A handmade history for an institutional life. Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History, 44-55.
- Harlan-Simmons, J. (2014, November). Unleashing creative potential: The role of UCEDDs in statewide forums on arts employment and other arts initiatives. Presented at the Association of University Centers on Disabilities annual meeting, Washington, D.C.
- Harlan-Simmons, J., Hauss, S., Soto, S., Nassim, A., Holtz, P., Fosha, J., Nord, D., & Abramenka, V. (2019). Defining disability: Indiana Institute on Disability and Community interdisciplinary education training program module 3.1. https://expand.iu.edu/browse/iidc/ietp/courses/iidc-ietp
- Harlan-Simmons, J., Holtz, P., & Lee, J. C. (2018, November). Belonging to history: The Indiana Disability History Project: Raising the visibility of disability experience and advocacy. A poster session presented at the Association of University Centers on Disabilities annual meeting, Washington, D.C.
- Todd, J., Harlan-Simmons, J., & Walker, P. (2007). Promoting a good old age: Strategies for identifying interests and developing community connections. In P. Walker, & P. Rogan (Eds.), Make the day matter! Promoting typical lifestyles for adults with significant disabilities (pp. 105-117). Brookes Publishing.
Awards and Honors
- The Indiana Historical Society's Jacob P. Dunn Jr. Award for the best article in Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History Magazine (2015)