The subject of illiteracy has come up in my life several times recently. As it is a subject that is not written about much, I thought we all needed a reminder. More below the fold.
I work in a county office building. Many members of the public come through our doors on their way to the different social services that the County offers. More and more I have come to realize that many of the ones that do may not be able to read or if they can, it is not at the level that you would expect of an adult. Where I notice this is on the elevator, pressing the wrong number for the floor that they want and then looking sheepish when you gently correct them and send them on their way. The directory in the building is very simple, only nine choices and five floors so it pretty obvious that they are just taking stabs at it and hoping to get it right. This always stresses me out when it happens, but how do you break that barrier and ask a stranger, "Hey buddy, can you read that?" Of course you can't, so you don't. But your heart gets a little heavier and you try to forget what you just saw.
The second time this came up recently was when a co-worker wondered if a driver with a CDL license could possibly be illiterate. He told her he couldn't read something but she told us she thought he was just being lazy. "Of course he could read it, how else could he get his CDL license. I think he was just being lazy." I said to her that I thought it was possible that he really couldn't read it, although of course I couldn't prove it.
Then last Friday I watched the 20/20 episode where Fantasia Bereano revealed that she is illiterate and that members of her family are also. She told the story and it broke my heart. She admitted that when she signed her contracts she hadn't a clue what they said and she was relying on the goodness of others to run her whole business enterprise. That's right, she made it through the whole American Idol show and no one knew that she couldn't read the cue cards. She bluffed her way through the whole thing. She is working with a tutor now and told her story to encourage others like her who are out there.
For someone who is addicted to the printed word and who feels withdrawl symptoms when there isn't an unread book on the nightstand, I want everyone to remember that if we want our democracy to continue to grow, we can't forget the Fantasia's of this world or the people of all colors that are standing on the elevator next to you staring blankly at the directory right in front of them.
For anyone looking to advance our democracy, you don't need to do big things to make big advances.