Ryan Lane Ryan Thomas Lane was born on November 23, 1987 to parents William and Jill Lane. Ryan was born deaf and when he was only 2 weeks old he was diagnosed with congenital nerve deafness. Congenital nerve deafness is a defect on the auditory nerve in the cochlea which may be present at birth or acquired during or soon after birth. Usually both inner ears are effected to the same extent. In Ryan’s case congenital nerve deafness was either caused by kernicterus (a lack of oxygen during a prolonged pregnancy, where the baby becomes jaundiced,) or was inherited from failure of the cochlea to develop properly. His sisters Hayley and Kristen both knew sign language, and tried to teach their parents and Ryan also. Though they knew ASL, they knew nothing about the background and culture of the Deaf Community. When Ryan was 6 years old he started learning ASL. He soon realized that he did not like ASL and decided to use SEE (signed exact English). Ryan’s father, William, was hard-of-hearing but his mother and sisters were both hearing. Ryan Lane won the worlds heart by communicating through SEE, his recurring role in ABC’s hit drama “Switched at Birth,” and by participating in the charity “Dogs for the Deaf” Ryan Lane knew American Sign Language but preferred to use SEE. When he was younger his parents wanted him to learn to read lips, so they sent him through speech auditory training. It was hard for him to learn anything because he could not focus, and he did not understand,. His mom and dad divorced when he was only 8 years old, forcing him to split his time between the two. Causing conflict with his learning ability because his mom nor dad knew anything about the deaf culture. This forced him to learn about the deaf culture on his own. Ryan was diagnosed with congenital nerve deafness at 2 weeks old. Ryan grew up and went to school in the Los Angeles County