Two Decades of the IIMC: Serving the Students of Illinois

Since 2003, The Chicago Lighthouse has supplied K-12 public school students who are blind or visually impaired throughout Illinois with Braille and large-print books, assistive technology and other equipment so they can participate in inclusive public schooling through the Illinois Instructional Materials Center (IIMC).

When The Lighthouse took over the IIMC, the program was in danger of being discontinued by the State of Illinois. It was failing to meet its mission of providing materials to schoolchildren in a timely manner and students were falling behind. Teachers, students, families and parent organizations, such as the Illinois Association of Parents of Blind and Visually Impaired Children, implored The Lighthouse to get involved. An intense advocacy effort by the Board, families, and broader community successfully got the program reinstated and moved to The Lighthouse.

Since then, the IIMC has distributed roughly 100,000 items to students throughout Illinois, including Braille textbooks, pre-school materials, closed-circuit television monitors that enlarge printed materials, magnifying computer software, speech software, talking calculators and specialized sporting equipment, says Greg Polman, who led the IIMC for the past 10 years as The Lighthouse’s most recent Senior Vice President of Public Policy.

“I have found it extremely rewarding to give students throughout the state the materials they need to fulfill their academic needs,” Greg says. “A lot of the technology wasn’t available when I was a student, so I’m grateful to help the younger generations learn with their sighted classmates.”

Greg recently announced his retirement from The Lighthouse after 42 years. But the IIMC will carry on under the direction of Peter Tucic, who is Vice President, Illinois Instructional Materials Center (IIMC) and Advocacy. Peter previously ran The Lighthouse’s National Assistive Technology Desk before moving to HumanWare, an assistive technology company.