Eileen Kushner hated school. She was obedient. But she had difficulty reading, and processing what people said. She was always in the lowest reading group. Sixty-five years ago none of her teachers really understood that. Recently Kushner visited the StoryCorps booth at the Chicago Cultural Center with her daughter, Laura. Eileen Kushner tells her daughter how she struggled to mask her difficulty reading, adding and subtracting. And how a job at a fast food restaurant changed her life.

StoryCorps’ mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to share, record and preserve their stories. These excerpts, edited by WBEZ, present some of our favorites from the current visit, as well as from previous trips.