“Using printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one’s goals and to develop one’s knowledge and potential” (National Center for Education Statistics, 2002). This is the definition of Illiteracy. Why is this even relevant, you may ask? In 2000, using a Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults, adults were tested and findings indicated that more than 35% of English-speaking and 61% of Spanish speaking patients had inadequate or marginal literacy skills (Bass, 2000). These numbers are enormous in comparison to what has previously been believed as the population of illiterate. There are many branches of illiteracy, such as where it stems from, where it is most prevalent, and how it can be avoided, but I want to focus on how illiteracy is seen by healthcare professionals as well as sociologists, and how their ideas of illiteracy compare and contrast.
Illiteracy in healthcare can be dangerous, and can lead to wrong medications being taken, misdiagnosis’, and even difficulty navigating to and within a hospital (Burggraf, 2002). Health care literacy has become a growing body of research, this includes the ability to comprehend and use medical information. Research has shown that over a third of English-speaking patients and more than half of primarily Spanish-speaking patients at US public hospitals have low health literacy. One analysis even found that Medicare enrollees with low health literacy were more likely than those with an adequate health literacy to use the emergency room and be admitted as inpatients rather than visit an outpatient doctor. This was because those who can’t read are intimidated by paperwork involved with outpatient care. “Emergency rooms are user-friendly if you don’t read because somebody else asks the questions and somebody else fills out the form” said Joanne Schwartzberg, director of aging and community health at the American Medical Association (Marcus, 2006). Although being illiterate is a “silent disability”, there is no real proof that being illiterate is physically damaging to our bodies. Without being physically harming, being illiterate can be mentally damaging, but we will talk about that later.
The more widespread the illiteracy, the easier it is to manipulate the opinions of both doctors and patients. Without proper display, charts, graphs, and other numerical graphs are practically useless. If readers have no way of interpreting the information, it's pointless. The readers would be easily manipulated without the ability to interpret information. “An unaware and statistically illiterate public is easy prey to political and commercial manipulations that can trade on citizen’s fears and anxieties” (Thornton, 2009). Sometimes, authors of medical journals and other presentations don’t even realize that they are not presenting their findings in the best manner (Thornton, 2009). Even “medical” websites sometimes relay false information that is seen as true, misleading the readers. This type of illiteracy is slightly easier to overcome than the disability to read, but it is nonetheless a pressing issue.
Another approach to illiteracy is from a sociologist's perspective. Many believe that a better developmental environment has a positive effect on brain development, leading to a more literate population.”The acquisition of literacy during childhood may affect brain functional organization” (Kwon, 2014). After a study done on both illiterate and literate 65 year old men, it was seen that “literacy acquired in childhood may increase cerebral volume and neuropsychological performance through the process of brain plasticity and have life effects” (Kwon, 2014). The illiterate group also showed significant decreased cortical volume and surface area in both parietal lobes and marginally significant decreases in all other lobes.
Being literate in today’s society demands a myriad of functional abilities, which, when absent, can have dramatic economic and social consequences. Illiterate adults experience poorer health outcomes, less financial security, and lower life expectancies compared to the overall population. Once education became the norm, literacy began to be defined according to grade level attainment. However, the number of years completed in school does not reflect the amount of education received, but rather the amount of education attempted. “Education by itself is not a proxy for ability level (Roman, 1997). Also, true literacy is more than signing your name. Instead literacy is based off of functional literacy, that is, someone is literate if they can function properly within society. Illiteracy has adverse effects on families, the economy and society at large. Children whose parents did not complete school or have trouble with literacy skills are more likely to be illiterate themselves and are more than five times as likely to drop out of high school as other children (Roman, 1997). Those who are illiterate are highly dependent on others to function and survive. It is also estimated that the price tag of illiteracy in America is in the billions as a result of health care costs, low productivity in the workplace, and strains on the welfare system (Roman, 1997).
Observing those who are illiterate has helped researchers understand how important oral language processing can be as well how different areas of the brain are involved in the processing of oral language when comparing literate and illiterate subjects (Castro, 1997). While sociologists and health experts look at illiteracy in different contexts, they are both concerned about the mental constraints it causes. Those without the ability to function socially in a literate world become withdrawn and have trouble with self image. It has also been seen that those who are illiterate are more susceptible to other mental disorders.
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