History of LDA IL

History of LDA of Illinois, Inc

By Louise Hullinger

In 1963, people from several states met in downtown Chicago to proposean organization that would have enough parent power to bring aboutlegislative change so that all children could be appropriatelyeducated. Out of this grew what is today the national organizationcalled the Learning Disabilities Association of America. After siftingthrough and struggling with terms such as "perceptually handicapped,""aphasoid," "brain damaged," "minimal brain dysfunction,""psychoneurological learning disabilities," "neurologicallyhandicapped" and others, a new term was adopted. Sam Kirk of theUniversity of Illinois is credited with coining it: Children withlearning disabilities.

Sympathies from other parents was often lacking. When appearing at aschool problems commission meeting, Frances Gleiter, current presidentof the Chicago Association for Children with Learning Disabilities(ACLD), gave an earnest description of her learning disabled child andwas told by a member in the audience, "Those children were given to youby God for YOU to care for. Don't expect us to do it." The schoolsliterally did not know what to do with "those kids." Out of concernssuch as these, the Chicago ACLD was created. It was incorporated onMarch 17, 1965, with Norman Kuperman as president and Evelyn Friedmanas Treasurer. In those early days there were more pugilists than not.My mother attended a meeting and said, "I think they're all perpetuallyhandicapped."

The organization took off slowly at first. After it began to meet at achurch on 87th and Cregier, Dr. Burt Schloss was named president withFrances Gleiter as vice president. Dr. Schloss began a newsletter,while the Gleiters began to publicize it. Ann Finn became publicitychairperson. It was fairly easy to get publicity. Governor Shapiroproclaimed the first Learning Disabled Week as October 20–26,1968. Those who helped were Joan Beck, Channel 11, Freda Kehm (WBBM),Virginia Gale (WGN), Jack Eigen and the Chicago Tribune. Membershipgrew by leaps and bounds, primarily by word of mouth.

We began to work to get legislation passed that would benefit kids withlearning disabilities. We weren't wise in the ways of lobbying, but BobAbbot hectographed (purple ink) an information sheet titled Ways to GetLaws Passed. Illinois held a luncheon for legislators in Springfieldwith the help of Margaret Wood, a board member who lived in there. Weinvited legislators, focusing on the educational committee. Illinois, aprecedent setting state, passed a law in l965 to take effect in l970.Before that, there was no category in the Illinois School Code for ourchildren. Special Education meant serving the blind, the deaf,physically handicapped and mentally retarded. In the Illinois SchoolCode our kids had to be fit in under "And other." In Chicago, those whoreceived help went to "brain damaged classrooms." Their teachers were"brain damaged" teachers! There were no teachers to teach the children.There were no teachers to teach the teachers! We set about petitioningcolleges to offer courses. Dr. Helmer Myklebust and Doris Johnson ofNorthwestern University offered courses! I petitioned WTTW, Channel 11,to offer television courses, but was told it could not be done.

Vernon Frazee, a state legislator, championed HB 1402 throughSpringfield. This law created a category through which our studentscould receive services. Therefore, Illinois had a category for our kidsbefore federal legislation PL94-142 was passed in 1969 with many yearsleeway to prepare. Frazee became a featured speaker at early meetings.

By 1965, three groups had formed in Illinois: The Fund for PerceptuallyHandicapped Children, The West Suburban Association for the Other Childand the Chicago Association for Children with Learning Disabilities. Afew men from the first two groups were meeting on the second Monday ofeach month at Stauffers on Randolph at Wabash. They were anxious forthe Chicago ACLD to join them so they could form a "Council" that wouldbring more clout and power to the cause. We eventually agreed andformed what we then called Illinois Council. There were more men thanwomen at those first council meetings. The men worked in The Loop andmeet after work while the women generally stayed home with theirchildren. Smoking was still in and the first president smoked a pipe.

Our first grand scale panic occurred when a funding source fell throughhalf way through a planned one-day seminar. Presto we discovered therummage sale! We had other fund raising efforts, notably giant coloringbooks, which some one absconded with. We also discovered an immensethirst for knowledge about these "special kids" as people came frommany suburbs to attend the seminar we held at Lane Tech with Dr. SamClements and others speakers.

We outgrew our meeting and parking facilities several times in thoseearly years. We journeyed with our little band from Cregier to FosterPark Fieldhouse to Quigley South and to Ford City, when it was justdebuting. Sol Gordon was invited to speak to Chicago-South on Sexuality and the Learning Disabled. Because of the topic Ford Cityrefused to use our posters!

In 1971, we successfully wooed the national association to hold aconference in Chicago. There were great worries about who would pay forthe conference if there would be a blizzard that might keep the crowdaway. We were all so new, so naive, so young and so earnest. Theconference turned out to be a success except we hadn't been savvyenough to negotiate for any of the income. We learned that in order totalk to anyone at the Board of Education we needed their privatenumbers; in those days other calls were mysteriously sidetracked,transferred or disconnected.

The invention of Xerox hailed in a new era: hundreds of companiesunknowingly contributed to the learning disabled cause. Lengthynewsletters became possible, most of which were tapped out on uprighttypewriters. Dues were eventually raised. From $.25 to$1.00— the first increase in dues! The Council's budget was$375 per year and we were successful with that little largely becauseno one turned in their bills. When Ellen Scloss was president sheprevailed upon Arlen Gould to fund the first conference on learningdisabilities in Peoria. Later, many conventions were held outside ofthe Chicago area, including Springfield and Rockford. The only Illinoisconference held out of state was held at the Blackhawk Hotel in Iowa,hosted by Tri-County of Moline and Rock Island.

Puzzle Children, with Bill Bixby, was shown on WTTW, channel 11.Several of us were on the panel; all member units sent people to answerquestions on the phone. In 1976 the membership of the Illinois Counciltotaled 1,967 members—nine more would have made the numbereasier to remember! The Fund had only had 450 members in 1975.

When I became president of the organization, I lobbied for an officefor the Learning Disabilities Association of Illinois. I wrote, "It isa fact that if we are to progress, we must have an office and/orsecretarial help. We need a telephone number listed under our name." InMay, 1988 that became a reality.

Illinois has held conferences annually most years, continues to have aninformative newsletter and has an active legislative chain. We havecontinually advocated for the learning disabled through legislation aswell as with other organizations such as the Department ofRehabilitation Service (DORS).

Louise Hullinger was the 5th president of Learning DisabilitiesAssociation of Illinois. She continues to be an active board member atthe state and local level.