Children with learning disabilities frequently grow up to become adults with literacy problems. The National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA) estimates that more than 500,000 adults in Ireland - 20 per cent of the population - have difficulties in reading.
For these people, important everyday activities such as filling in medical forms and reading medicine bottles and packaging, following signs and written instructions and even figuring out what bus to take, become constant obstacles.
Tommy Byrne, a spokesman for NALA, cites the result of the International Adult Literacy Survey which found 25 per cent of Irish adults had very poor literacy.
"The test on which the results were based consisted of reading an aspirin bottle."
NALA works to combat this by providing literacy awareness training to understand the issue of poor literacy and resources and materials to help improve the reading and writing skills.
To raise awareness on adult illiteracy, NALA is sponsoring a National Literacy Awareness Week from September 9th to 15th, including two conferences, one each on September 13th and 14th.
The first, "Do People Get Your Health Message?", is directed at the health sector; the second - "Literacy Skills - A Barrier to Good Health" will address the community sector.
Speakers include Dr Rima Rudd, director of the Harvard School of Public Health; and Brian Lenihan, Minister of State for Health and Children.
[ literacy@nala.ie ]