In Margaret's day, and in mine for that matter, no one seemed to know about LDs, and if you had one, even if you were very bright, you were probably prevented from a uni education because you couldn't perform within the "system".    And more than likely, your parents would have been told a technical school was in your future.  Nothing wrong with that except that it might not be right for you.  You'd be lucky not to slip through the cracks.  And chances are you'd display behavioral issues  because coping within the confines of school, without any accommodation was killing you. We've evolved somewhat and recognize through psycho-ed testing, there are very smart individuals who also have an LD eg dyslexia.  In the good old days the LD would prevent you from achieving much of anything.    You'd be convinced you were 'dumb' and most if not all of your teachers would believe that too.   We now recognize that these people, with accommod'n can achieve great things.   How's this is a bad thing?