I find myself with an hour to spare after a day of assisting a young man to understand why he has to learn, and how to read, and write what he is learning and thinking down. He understands the alphabet which is a start, and he has a small vocabulary but he can't spell. He might have spelt 10 of the words from the previous sentence corrctly (but wouldn't have seen them all as been necessary)and it would have taken him a long time to get it written down and that would have been from me transcribing or him copying it from a written source (either the internet or from my writing it down first). He is studying Motor vehicle repair and maintenace and I imagine hoped he would be spared from having to write paragraphs or even sentences down. Our western world will no longer accept this way of working. He can't just be allowed to learn how to fix cars, he must stare at that ever intimading space that he must fill in a way he has not learnt to do to any real degree in 17 years of being on this planet. If he cannot learn, and it is likely that literacy and numeracy will elude him for his whole life, then our world has no place to offer him. No area where he can know that he contribute and feel valued for the skills that he does have , and those he will pick up during his life; all because he cannoot read and write to the demanded standard.
Having grown up with dyslexia myself and felt to a lesser degree the shame and frustration that must be his due to not being able to deliver what is demanded by those older and wiser than himself, I can't help but wonder if our culture and society in the long run will destroy his curiosity and enthiusasm for those things he enjoys and is proficient at. Is it possible that we can all agree that at some point reading, writing, and numeracy wont ever (bar a miracle) be his bag. That we can stand by his side and guide him when necessary and instill the knowledge of his worth when he gets to excel at what he can. Don't get me wrong I love reading and writing and I have done a lot of both since I was fifteen and discovered the joy of losing myself in someone else's mind and imagination, and since discovering the near ecstacy and relief of being able to express what I think and feel freely with almost no bar. And so I want everyone to experience that fulfillment of who they are and what ther are capable of, whatever that looks like, books or no books.