Literate jobs, and access to communication

People find that their literacy skills get "rusty," or that they lose confidence, if they spend years in communities or workplaces that do not provide them opportunities to use reading, writing and numeracy. Such experiences are another of the anchors of illiteracy. Work organization can promote or hinder literacy, and promote or hinder participation in literacy programs. Some studies, for example, show that people in low-skill, dead-end jobs tend not to see value in, or participate in, education, and likewise to be little involved in their children's education; while people in jobs with broad skills, or with opportunities for advancement, tend more to participate in education. Such findings suggest that policies for literacy would include policies for expanding job skills and advancement opportunities. Such possibilities have seldom been discussed, although recent work from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development has begun to promote discussion.¹⁹²

Although in Canadian communities and public life it often appears that there is too much, not too little, print, much written material is not oriented to the needs, capabilities, or experiences of new readers. Much printed information appears to be produced by and for organizational insiders — legal information that only lawyers can understand, health information drafted for doctors and nurses, regulations and directives that seem to be written in the language of the bureaucrats issuing them and not in the language of those who are expected to follow them. One kind of work aimed at addressing this situation usually goes under the banner of "plain language." It is the effort to write simply, to eliminate specialized jargon or explain it where necessary, and to lay out information in an order that is sensible from the perspective of probable readers. Plain language work generally occurs where institutions and professions have a message they want to get out to the public, or information they want to get back. The intention is to facilitate this transfer of information. There are notable efforts in the health and legal professions to make vital information available in "plain language," efforts in banking and industry to simplify forms and documents,¹⁹³ efforts within government to change the character of writing for the public,¹⁹⁴ and interventions from the literacy movement into plain language issues.¹⁹⁵ In a related effort, libraries increasingly work to provide collections of material suitable for new readers, and highly accessible information services.