Return-Path: <nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id j8QE53G21879; Mon, 26 Sep 2005 10:05:03 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005 10:05:03 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <002601c5c2a2$c7342120$6401a8c0@D5NPYT31> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Audrey Riffenburgh" <ar@plainlanguageworks.com> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-HEALTH:4819] Re: Response to Archie Willard's thoughts X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2180 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; Status: O Content-Length: 6574 Lines: 131 Greetings: I also attended the Pfizer Health Literacy conference Archie Willard wrote about. Archie, you are so "right on" with your insights. I really appreciate you coming to the conference and I thank Pfizer for inviting you! Your perspective was much needed. Newt Gingerich illustrated to us all how out of touch many people are with the reality of life for millions of Americans--those who cannot or simply do not use print to gain information. No matter how much we want to pretend that ALL adult Americans can use information on the Internet or use the kind of technology Mr. Gingerich talked about, it simply isn't true. There are millions of people in our great country for whom using text of any kind is just too much work. It's not worth the effort. And even great technology requires some reading to use it. Those of us who create printed materials, forms, signs, web sites, etc. must keep in mind that our message won't get across if our audiences don't access it and then read it. If a reader's first try at using a website or reading a brochure is too tough, he or she most likely won't come back to it. Archie is right. We need a "war" on illiteracy at least as much as we need a war on other social ills. If people can't access information or can't use it when they get it, they are disenfranchised once again. Let's all take time to help the educated elite among us understand the reality of life for many of our citizens! Toward health and knowledge for all! Audrey Riffenburgh, M.A. President, Riffenburgh & Associates Specialists in Plain Language & Health Literacy since 1994 Albuquerque, New Mexico, US Phone: (505) 345-1107 E-mail: ar@plainlanguageworks.com Faculty, Health Literacy Institute, www.healthliteracyinstitute.net Principal, The Clear Language Group, www.clearlanguagegroup.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Archie Willard" <millard@goldfieldaccess.net> To: "Multiple recipients of list" <nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov> Sent: Saturday, September 24, 2005 3:27 PM Subject: [NIFL-HEALTH:4816] Literacy thoughts I recently attended the Pfizer 8th National Health Literacy Conference in DC. There were many good discussions, panels, and speakers and much was learned at this conference. With their Health Literacy Conferences, Pfizer is bringing awareness and a better understanding about literacy throughout our country, not only to physicians and health professionals, but to the rest of society. To my knowledge I was the only person at this conference with a literacy problem so my viewpoints may be a little different. I think my voice was needed at the conference. I said some things at the conference that needed to be said by someone who has lived these things. One of the speakers was Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the US House of Representatives. He is chairman of the Gingrich Group, a communications and consulting firm and spoke to us about some state of the art medical care that will be coming in the future and how useful it will be. He told us about how cell phones can be a part of better health care if you can afford the technology. This sounds great and it will bring better health care to many. But, because of lack of skills and/or money this new medical technology will not benefit all people. As I look at the gap between the haves and have-nots in this country and envision the skills and money that people will need to use technology, I feel a lot of people will be left out. I think we have a lot of things to do before everyone can access this technology. What happened in New Orleans’s is a big reminder of how some people have been left behind. Our country can do better and it should because it is the right thing to do. A lady from New York who teaches adults to read challenged Mr. Gingrich about his plan. She asked how she would be able to keep her reading students at a level to use this new technology or to keep up with it when reading programs are under funded and have been on the cutting blocks by the government. Mr. Gingrich told us he knows of a reading program that people could learn to read by if only they would try. He did not name this program or tell how to access it. I have struggled with reading all my life and have been looking for a magical reading program. I would like to ask him to please share this program with all of us. I want to assure Mr. Gingrich that I have tried hard to learn to read and I have worked with others to learn to read and I can tell you it is not easy to learn to read as an adult. When I was in an adult literacy program in the past, there were good literacy programs, but Congress has changed them. Now literacy programs spend about 40% of their time doing paper work and reporting to the government. Consequently, fewer people are benefiting. Knowledge and information are power in a person’s life. People who don’t read lack knowledge and information and they become powerless. If there are no opportunities to learn to read and write people become slaves to society. Many organizations, volunteers, and people who have given time and money have helped adult literacy across the country, but literacy is too big a problem in this country. Our government needs to get involved in literacy and to help. If government wants to give freedom to the millions of people with reading problems they will need to declare war on illiteracy. Government needs to make sure that there are good literacy programs for everyone who needs literacy help. This country has done some good things when it wants to. One of the best things to happen in health literacy is the video “Help Your Patients Understand”. This video has real people with literacy problems talking to real doctors about real medical problems. It has brought awareness about literacy problems to many physicians and to the medical field that just didn’t realize what a problem there is with literacy in our country. There has been better understanding between physicians and patients as a result of this video. When we make improvements in literacy and in health literacy we help both causes at the same time. In a democracy, being able to learn to read and write should be a right for all and people should have that opportunity to learn to read and write throughout their lifetime. When Congress looks to make cuts in the budget, literacy programs should not be looked at as old programs that have served their purposes and then cut. There will always be a need for them. Archie Willard -- Archie Willard URL - http://www.readiowa.org/archiew.html
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