Pioneer Parents in Indiana March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, so this article is about remembering a couple of Pioneer Parents who have passed away. Some of the By Angela Arlington information was collected from the Arc of Indiana’s #60Stories60Years, created in 2016, and has been reprinted with permission. Dorothy Burnside and Ilene Younger Qualkinbush The Arc of Indiana was founded on September 25, 1956, by families seeking a better world for their Dorothy Burnside sons and daughters. Dorothy Burnside and Ilene Younger Qualkinbush helped found the state association and were The Arc of Indiana’s first lobbyists at the State House. Ilene went on to become The Arc’s first paid staff member and later The Arc’s first woman president of the board. Their many years of service and dedication did indeed help make a better world for people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (I/DD), and their legacy continues to make a difference. Dorothy passed away in 2018 and Ilene passed away in 2020.
Venus Abbit
36 Special Needs Living • March 2021
Ilene Qualkinbush
The Arc of Indiana co-sponsored Indiana’s first Special Olympics games with 1,000 athletes in 1969. The organization has many programs and resources, including Public Policy Advocacy, The Arc Master Trust, The Arc Advocacy Network, Insurance Advocacy Resource Center, Career Counseling Information and Referral Services, Podcasts, and Publications. To learn more visit www.arcind.org. Venus Abbit and Mary Smith Venus Abbit and her husband had no idea where their journey would lead when their daughter, Carolyn, was born in 1946. When Carolyn was nearly 3, Venus was told that Carolyn was “mentally retarded, a little slow, but she might ‘grow out of it.’” Although she began school in first grade, when she reached third grade she was told she could not come back because there was no teacher for her. Venus recalls that Carolyn cried because she loved school. It was shortly thereafter in the early ‘50s that a simple family photo changed many lives for the better. While
