1. LOW LITERACY LEVEL
EFFECTS ON SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Definition: Low Literacy Level relates to the
ability of reading and writing of individuals

3. NEGATIVE EFFECTS ON SOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT:
Financial:
 Literacy affects directly on the
income, employment and well -being
rate.
 In daily life, basic numeracy and
literacy skills are needed for
everyone
 Even more multiple complex
literacies are required (analyzing,
specialized documents) in the
financial decision-making. (ABC
organization, n.d)

4. POVERTY
 Poverty certainly causes the lack of physical needs of
individuals (foods, shelters, clothes, security) and it
further limits the access to education.
 That is the main reason leading to high unemployed rate,
lowest -wage earnings.
 To have a stable career and well-paying jobs, usually a
strong literacy skill is must require. (ABC organization, n.d)

5. POVERTY
 Facts: “75% of Americans who receive food stamps
perform at the lowest 2 levels of literacy, and 90% of
high school dropouts are on welfare.” (DoSomething
organization, n.d)

6. MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE
 Limited literacy level obstructs the law enforcement.
 People with low literacy level usually get in troubles with
misunderstandings, confusion or even inappropriate actions
 Those factors are the reasons for justice cannot be
accessed.
 It also affects the outcome and judgment in the courtroom
since it can lead to miscarriage, inefficiency and
ineffectiveness of justice or even cannot reduce crime.
(Literacy and the Police, 2008)

7. MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE
 Fact: “Nearly 85% of the juveniles who face trial in the
juvenile court system are functionally illiterate, proving
that there is a close relationship between illiteracy and
crime. More than 60% of all inmates are functionally
illiterate.” (DoSomething organization, n.d).

8. NEGATIVE EFFECTS ON EMOTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT:
Children development: (ABC organization, n.d)
 For parents with low literacy level, there is a certain
thing that they cannot help their children in following
reading or writing modeling with them.
 That factor is a disadvantage for a child who is reaching
school age, since children tend to develop literacy skills
from their parents in young age.
 Therefore, the circle of low literacy level keeps
repeating within family ’s generations.
 Fact: “1 in 4 children in America grow up without
learning how to read” (DoSomething organization, n.d)

9. EXCLUSION AND PARTICIPATION
Discrimination is the biggest struggle that limited
literacy people have to deal with in terms of families,
communities and societies.
 Lacking literacy ability, people would not have chance
to participate in social activities, politics and as a
result, their talents and voices would never be
discovered. (ABC organization, n.d)

10. HEALTH AND SAFETY:
Health and Safety are directly affected by
the level of literacy especially at home and
workplace.
Without the ability to read, people
absolutely cannot understand the meaning
of instructions, diagrams, symbols,
specialized languages which are difficult
challenges that may put them in more
pressure. (ABC organization, n.d)
 Fact: “Reports show that low literacy
directly costs the healthcare industry over
$70 million every year.” (DoSomething
organization, n.d)

11. CITATIONS:
 ABC organization (n.d) . “What are e f fec ts of l ow l i terac y?”.
Li feLiteracyCanada. Accessed day on October 1, 2014.
http://abclifeliteracy.ca/files/Ef fects.pdf
 DoSomething organization (n.d) . “ 1 1 f a c t s a b o u t l i terac y i n
Ame ri ca”. Do S ome t h in g . o r g . Accessed day on October 1,
2014. https://beta.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about -
l iteracy-america
 L i te r ac y a n d t h e Po l i c e ( 2 0 0 8 ) . “ Ta r g et C r ime wi t h L i te r ac y ”.
CACP Coordinates. Accessed day on October 1, 2014.
http://policeabc.ca/rationale-for-activities.html