You may not believe it, but in developed countries like the U.S., which boasts of a literacy rate of 99%, there are still millions who don’t have functional literacy (the ability to read and understand simple instructions – like filling out a form or reading medicine and food labels.)
Here is a moving story of an elderly couple in Canada for whom literacy became a matter of life-and-death.
Dorothy Silver was 20, married, and a mother, when she decided to go back to school. She had left school at 15, but without having learned to read, write or do maths. In her second attempt, the teacher ridiculed her daily in front of 8 to 14 year olds. Dorothy decided that she was never ever going to school again.
Then her husband, who was also illiterate, had a heart attack. Because she could not read the doctor’s instructions or the label on the medicine bottle, she ended up giving him too many aspirin tablets. He almost died.
A few years later, he was in hospital again. This time, doctors suspected that he had cancer of the voice box so they didn’t allow him to speak. The nurses handed him pen and paper so that he could communicate. He did not know how to write and Dorothy, out of shame, did not tell them that he couldn’t!
Fortunately, he recovered. Dorothy and her husband decided to master the skills of reading and writing, come what may. It took them ten years but it led to a dramatic change in their lives.
Dorothy is now an active campaigner for literacy, gives lectures and has authored three books!