Literacy Level: Learning Disability

Illiterates Dept: "What a terrible thing to say about people who struggle to do something as simple as reading the notes coming home from the teacher," said Fyckes, executive director of the RECLAIM Literacy Council, celebrating the 20th anniversary of its Learning Centre this month, according to Montreal Gazette. Illiteracy, she points out, could happen to anyone. "There are hundreds of reasons why - some of them because they had a learning disability so they dropped out of school, others because they came from rural areas and when they got to school here, they couldn't cope. One gentleman was hard of hearing and it went undiagnosed." The centre helps individuals from age 17 to the oldest, who is 82 and joy Fyckes was saddened to read the commentary in a local newspaper: "These illiterates who drive cars," the writer fumed, "and they're allowed to vote!" Catering mostly to English Montrealers, some of them English speakers in the immigrant population, RECLAIM offers reading, writing and numeracy, focusing on working with clientele at the lowest literacy level and moving them up the scale. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.