Imagine you’re at a doctor’s office, and while you’re waiting you pick up this paper. And just stare at the picture on the front page.

Imagine that you walked into that doctor’s office building for the first time and had to ask three people where the office was located.

Imagine that all of the signs and books and billboards look like a foreign language that you don’t speak.

Imagine that you can’t read.

You couldn’t read the list of doctors in the building to find yours. You couldn’t read the forms the nurse gave you and you can barely sign your name on them. You can’t read the cereal box to find out what’s inside. You can’t read the map to tell you how to get to your cousin’s graduation. You can’t read the label on your blood pressure medicine to see how many times a day to take it. If you go out to eat, you can’t read a menu. You can’t read your lease. Your car warranty. Your electric bill. A birthday card from your mother or your child.

Imagine.

For millions of Americans, illiteracy is not imagined. It is their reality. Some have learning disorders, some are naturally slow readers and got left behind in the school systems, and some older Americans grew up in rural areas and were kept out of school to help work the farms. There may be as many reasons for their inability to read as there are people who can’t, according to Debbie Yoho, executive director of Turning Pages, a Columbia based literacy agency established in 1968.

“A lot of people have learning disorders that were never diagnosed,” Yoho said. “The educational system is set up with about one teacher for 30 students. That teacher has to reach the most students possible. He or she can’t hold an entire class back for a few children who need extra help. So the child feels like there is something wrong with him and begins to fall back. From there it just spirals down.”

According to the 2000 Census, 828,804 adults in South Carolina alone, aged 16 and over, do not have a high school diploma. That means 26.58% of the adult population. This statistic includes teens 16 and older who dropped out of school and according to the

Associated Press, half the adults in SC without a high school diploma survive on less than $12,000 a year.

“While illiteracy is a socio–economic condition, poverty itself doesn’t cause illiteracy, but illiteracy will almost always cause poverty,” Yoho said. “In Columbia alone, about one third of adults read below a sixth grade level. That tells us that the educational system is failing. Even some of the top magazines realize these facts.

Time magazine writes its articles at an eighth grade reading level.”

The answer, according to Yoho, is more individualized instruction for students, which is what Turning Pages offers.

“The agency now offers a full range of learner–led instructional programs, small group, computer–assisted, and one–on– one tutoring that emphasize life skills as well as reading fluency and English language acquisition,” Yoho said. “Turning Pages has served as many as 500 adults in one fiscal year.”

But now it may all be coming to an end. After 42 years of serving Columbia adults by teaching them to read and helping them with computer skills that enabled them to find more lucrative jobs, the agency may be forced to close its doors, Yoho said.

“We’ve had devastating budget cuts, and some of our biggest funders have changed their criteria so that we no longer fit in.” she said. “While a lot of our students do go on to better jobs, a lot of them are just interested in learning to read. They are older and have always wanted to read. Maybe they are housewives or grandparents who want to read to their kids or grandkids. They won’t be joining the work force so that eliminates us from a lot of funding sources.”

The agency needs to raise $25,000 by July 1, or they will have to close their doors.

“We’ve already had to lose our office space because we could no longer afford it,” Yoho said. “Thankfully, the First Christian Church on Beltline lets us use its facilities and doesn’t charge us rent, which is a huge savings. But we still have to pay other bills. We used to be open five days a week but now it’s just two and a half.”

The ability to read is essential to productive citizenship, Yoho said.

“Just in daily life, a literate person contributes more,” she said. “To earn a decent living, maintain a home, or provide for your family, reading is essential in today’s job market.”

Research has shown that crime, child abuse, and domestic abuse can all stem from illiteracy, and the welfare rolls are full of people who can’t read, she said.

“It’s not a quick fix to teach a person to read,” Yoho said. “We live in the era of a silver bullet where we want everything now. It takes time to teach a person to read. And adults can’t spend seven hours a day in school as children do. The reading programs have to be tailored to their needs. A lot of them work night shifts, have no transportation, or are the sole caregiver for children or elderly parents.”

The agency’s web page stresses that adult reading instruction is a viable part of society.

“While children’s literacy needs are critical, the state cannot afford to write off adults,” the website said. “The scarcity of skilled labor already limits the growth of our state’s industries and discourages investment. Turning Pages knows that employers cannot wait for the next generation of graduates, hoping they will emerge with a better educational foundation.”

Yoho said that with today’s technology, computer skills are almost a must in all jobs.

“Fast food workers and grocery checkers have to have some sort of computer training,” she said. “Technological skill is becoming more important to day–to–day life, both to be a competitive employee and to be a competent citizen.”

If the doors to Turning Pages close, that will be the end of one of Columbia’s biggest foes of illiteracy, Yoho said.

“Many schools offer adult education,, but again it’s usually one teacher with many students, and it meets at a fixed time. If the person can’t make the classes, they fall behind, get frustrated, and give up,” she said. “Our program is more flexible and can work with the individual.”

No one knows that better than a Turning Pages student who asked not to be identified. He said the agency changed his life.

“I didn’t know how to read very well so I would avoid it,” the 30–year–old father said. “That held me back in a lot of things so I was on the streets doing bad things. But when I started my family, I wised up. I realized I was hurting myself and now I want to better myself. I teach my kids not to quit, and I won’t either. As long as the doors to Turning Pages are open, I’m going to keep going. It’s a fight that’s not always easy, but I’m fighting it and I’m going to win.”

For more information on volunteering or making a donation, you can reach Yoho at (803) 240-2441.