I am a non-reader and I want to share some of the problems I have every day. Being a non-reader makes me feel second rate. If you can read, then you don't understand how it feels. Let me share a few of the problems I face. It's not as easy as you think.

When young I missed not being able to pass notes to friends in school. Other kids in class did not want to be my friend unless I knew how to read. Special education was embarrassing, too. When I got my driver's license, I went to drivers education class in school, and I failed it once, but I took it again and passed. Others who can't read have to take it over and over. Now they give the test orally, but that's embarrassing. I have heard that the Virginia Department of Transportation has even considered that if you can't read, you can't drive. That could be a real disadvantage for non-reading people.

Now that I am older I find it is hard to read my mail. My friend is really nice to me and she reads it for me and she tells me what is important. It's hard writing checks and deposit slips and keeping a checking account balanced. I'd like to do that for myself. I can only read some greeting cards, newspapers, funnies in the newspaper, jokes, but some people can't. I can't even read the Bible for myself. When I look up phone numbers of people or businesses, sometimes I can't find them because I can't spell the word. I have difficulty pronouncing words because I don't recognize them when they are written down. Reading is required when I order in restaurants. Reading is required for me to travel with maps, and follow directions. This is hard for me.

When filling out forms to apply for jobs, I have to get someone to help me. The jobs that I can get are in factories, construction and janitorial work, but they require reading. If you don't read you can't do your job very well. It's hard at work when I don't know how to read. I have things I need to read. Sometimes my boss tells me to write something down or he asks me to fill out something and I don't know how to. It makes me panic and become nervous, so that I can't write or think. They just assume I know how, and I don't want them to know differently.

One of my biggest problems with non-reading is that I can't teach my child to read, because I don't do it very well myself. It's embarrassing to have to tell the teacher that I have a problem reading myself. Sometimes they send notes and I don't understand the notes, and it's embarrassing to ask. My goal for my child is that someday she will be able to go to college. We are working on this goal now with tutors in the afternoons at the Presbyterian Community Center. I would have liked to have gone to college and made something of myself. I wanted to be a nurse or something.

Since I have been working on my reading skills for the last couple of years, I have been told I have come a long way. I really appreciate all the support that I have gotten from the Literacy Volunteers and the Presbyterian Community Center. I think that Literacy Volunteers of America should try to get more tutors to help others learn to read and especially tutors for little kids, before they get too far along in school.

Once again I want to thank each one that has helped me and my child, and for each one who has helped in making my dreams come true for us.