Posted on 08/31/2008 10:47:27 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
NEW ORLEANS: Marsha Williams always hesitated when mail arrived from the government, but after Hurricane Katrina she began to fear the letters.
One notice warned that her apartment building could be shut down because the landlord had not repaired storm damage. She worried: What did all the legal forms mean? Was there more paperwork she needed to send in? But at age 51, Williams was embarrassed that she could not read much more than her own name and address.
"I didn't get a lot of school when I was a child. I guess they didn't have enough to go around," said Williams, who is learning to read in an adult-education course. She brought the forms to class for help.
Three years after Hurricane Katrina, residents of New Orleans are still buried in a blizzard of government paperwork. But for thousands of storm victims seeking federal aid, the challenge is made more difficult by a little-known obstacle: More than 40 percent of the city's adults lack the literacy skills to comprehend basic government forms. And recovery programs have done little to ease the burden.
Rachel B. Nicolosi, program director for the Literacy Alliance of Greater New Orleans, estimates that as many as 100,000 people from New Orleans may have had assistance delayed, or may never have applied for help, because they could not read the paperwork.
"It's a paramount issue. The rules are almost indecipherable for everyone," said Davida Finger, a staff attorney for Loyola University's New Orleans College of Law, which has helped 1,000 people seek rebuilding aid, nearly all of whom had trouble understanding the forms.
Katrina destroyed 27 adult literacy programs when it came ashore in 2005.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
I have a Ph.D. in Physics, but I have to say I can completely identify with her reaction, "What did all the legal forms mean? Was there more paperwork she needed to send in?"
Amen, sister!
Don’t fret, I have a colege degree, but not being a lawyer, I have trouble with gov’t forms also.
Heck, some Dims believe that Republicans are responsible for inclement weather.
School buses to take kids to school? Don’t be so naive.
They have to go easy on them so they can rack up the miles driving illegals to multiple voting sites every time their fiefdom is in jeopardy.
LOL.... A direct hit on the “good ‘doctor’”....
I really do feel compassion for someone like her. She never learned to read in school? what the heck happened to her all those years ago?
Low literacy rate? How long were the Democrats in control of Louisiana? More failure of the Left. It fails everywhere and every time it seizes control. This is no accident. Leftist leaders—many of them sociopaths—offer everything to the morons who support them; what they deliver is luxurious living for themselves. The morons never figure this out, and keep voting them more and more money, power, and luxury—as they toss an occasional crumb—and lots and lots of propaganda—to the morons.
I am sorry this woman cannot read, but 51 years ago there was plenty of school to go around. At least enough so that a child could learn how to read.
And it's never too late to learn.
After working on implementing specifications and reporting for literacy programs in Louisiana, I can assure you that they are a disorganized mess.
She sounds like a decent, uneducated person. What I’m wondering about, is she a regular voter? If so, how can she understand the issues?
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