By Lisa M. Belisle, MD
Originally published March 16, 1999, Portland Press Herald

Do these words make sense to you? If so, you have an advantage over 20 percent of Maine residents. One person out of five in this state is functionally illiterate. These individuals have difficulty with many tasks we consider routine. If words make sense to you, consider yourself fortunate.

In 1991, the National Literacy Act defined literacy as “an individual’s ability to read, write, and speak in English, compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society, to achieve one’s goals, and develop one’s knowledge and potential.”

Literacy occurs on a continuum. According to the National Adult Literacy Survey (1992), as many as 40 million Americans cannot read or write, while 45 million more have only marginal skills. These individuals struggle to understand a newspaper, complete a job application and decipher instructions on their prescriptions.

Recent studies show that nonreaders are also more likely to require frequent medical care and suffer the ill effects of medication dosing or usage errors. Unfortunately, the ranks of the illiterate expand by 2.25 million adults each year.

According to the National Institute for Literacy, this problem results in $237 million worth of expenditures in welfare, crime, remedial education and losses due to suboptimal job performance each year. The NIL estimates that “Forty-three percent of people with the lowest literacy skills live in poverty; 17 percent receive food stamps, and 70 percent have no job or a part-time job.”

More astonishing than the fact that many illiterate individuals are poor and jobless is the fact that so many more are not. Illiterate individuals survive in every social stratum. Contrary to popular belief, most individuals affected by illiteracy are white and were born in this country. Twenty percent have high school diplomas.

Of these, many suffer silently with learning disabilities such as dyslexia. The vast majority have constructed elaborate means of functioning within the world of words, and are largely unrecognized by their peers.

Illiteracy is an isolating disease, but not without cure. There are many resources for those among us that can’t read. Literacy Volunteers of America has a network of 50,000 instructors nationwide and multiple programs throughout the state. Their focus is on individualized teaching in a confidential setting. Most communities also have access to group instruction through the Adult Basic Education system. Organizations such as the NIFL and National Center for Adult Literacy provide valuable information over the Internet and through more traditional means.

Adult literacy efforts have been complemented by ongoing interest in family literacy. In 1997, the federal government pledged $469 million to combating literacy through adult education and family literacy programs. These efforts recognize that early reading is essential to human development. Newborns need visual, auditory and tactile stimulation in order to form nerve connections in the brain. Reading to children incorporates all of these.

Programs such as “Reach Out and Read” and “Prescription to Read” at the Maine Medical Center and in local offices encourage health care providers to emphasize reading to their pediatric patients.

Health care providers aren’t the only ones to champion reading in this states. Recently, local officials and celebrities spent the day in schools and libraries sharing books with young patrons as part of “Read Across America.” For kids, this was a chance not only to enjoy reading, but also to see the value that adults place upon it.

The positive impact of reading to our children is borne out by recent news stories. This month we awoke to the Press Herald headline, “Maine students top U.S. in reading” (March 4). Children in grades eight and four ranked first and second respectively on the National Assessment of Educational Progress reading test compared to their peers in other states.

When asked to comment on the students’ success, one official opined that “Maine students tend to... read a rich variety of fiction and nonfiction books beyond basic textbooks.”

Still, illiteracy is a skeleton in the closet of the Pine Tree State. It is time for a good spring cleaning. Help give those bones a proper burial. If you understand these words, share your good fortune.