Since 1985, Landmark College in Putney, Vermont, has been welcoming students who learn differently to its idyllic New England campus. As the first institution of higher education in the United States established specifically for students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities, Landmark continues to develop innovative new ways to make higher education more accessibility to those with dyslexia, ADHD, autism, or who face executive function challenges.

Through determined leadership, ambitious fundraising, community involvement, and extraordinary renovation efforts, Landmark has built a campus that now enrolls hundreds of students annually from across the United States. Intensive, carefully tailored instruction in literacy, writing, study habits, and organizational skills has helped countless learners of differing ages and from many different backgrounds, earn degrees that would have been otherwise out of reach at a traditional college or university.

Alone in the Crowd is a story about vision and determination, about empathy and listening, and about what can happen when educators, community members, and students who learn differently come together to support each other and the values they share. 
 

Jonathan Tyler Baker is an assistant professor of history at Landmark College.