The paper sets forth the position of the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities regarding definitions of learning disabilities (LD) as found in P.L. 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. The paper cites difficulties with the current definition, suggesting that misinterpretation has given the impression that individuals with LD are a homogeneous group. The committee recommends that the term LD be recognized as a general label with different subgroups. Other recommendations address the need for recognizing that adults also may have LD, affirming inherently altered processes of acquiring and using information as a basis of LD, and not restricting LD to individuals without other handicapping conditions or in different cultural and linguistic groups (as the "exclusion clause" in P.L. 94-142 may be interpreted to do). An alternative definition of LD is proposed. (CL)