Literacy and being Literate

I have never had this thought before now, due to the way this question was asked. In a way, teachers are the ones who define literacy especially in the classroom. I suppose the whole school board sort of helps start the definition for society since they decide what needs to be taught to make our future society members be literate. When first starting college, I used to think if literacy meaning somebody could read well. Now I know, that is only a very small part of what being literate actually is and it doesn't pertain just to the subject of English. Somebody can be literate in math, science, history and any other subject.

I would venture to say litearacy almost has two definitions. Being able to read, write, and communicate in a language, particularly English is one basic definition of literacy. The second I would say is not just being able to do those things but to comprehend what is actually being done. Therefore understanding what is being read, understanding what is being written and the form of communication will then be understood. Does this mean somebody who can't read is illiterate? I think that would qualify as partially illiterate but I don't think literacy is solely dependent on being able to read therefore I don't think fully illiterate is for people who can't read because they still can communicate.

I work in two medical offices and one of the families that comes in, the mom cannot read. She has 8 kids, 6 of who are adopted and she stays home with them (because logically, what job can you do if you can't read). She of course didn't openly admit it right away. Whenever we would give her the paperwork to be filled out, she'd say "oh my eyes are bad today I can hardly see" and excuses like that. Finally, one  of her children were too young to fill it out and she said would you just ask me the questions and I'll give you the answers for you to write in. I thought, how in the world does this lady function in modern society? I would say she is illiterate because the lines of communication were certainly blocked between the paperwork, her, and us.

I kept thinking about her while writing this post and thinking about what it means to be literate because she is by most definitions illiterate but I don't think she's fully illiterate because I feel some part of literacy is comprehension and communication. Once those questions were asked, she understood and could answer she just couldn't read the questions herself. In general, we would call her illiterate.

One other interesting thought is to consider literacy across a multi lingual perspective. I would certainly be called illiterate by our definitions in Japanese because I have had no exposure to it. I can't even say "hello". It makes me wonder if other countries have the same sort of definition for literacy as we do. If broadening away from just English, I could also say I'm barely literate in math. When thinking this way, it makes me have a little more empathy for the lady who can't read.