What is Functional illiteracy?
[[File:Segnale incendio.svg|thumb|Warning signs such as this one have been introduced to help people who have trouble with reading. This is a waring of [[fire]] (and of [[flammable]] substances).]] '''Functional illiteracy''' means that a person is not able to [[read]], [[write]], and do [[mathematics|math]] well in regular life. Someone who is fully [[illiteracy|illiterate]] can not read, write, or do math at all. Such people have perhaps never learnt how to read or write; perhaps they did not need to. A person who is functionally illiterate is different - at some point in their lives, these people were taught reading and writing skills. For different reasons, [[adult]]s who are functionally illiterate try to avoid writing and reading as much as possible. That way, a person who is functionally illiterate may be able to write their name, but it is very difficult for them to write more than a few [[sentence]]s. These people have trouble functioning in modern [[society]]: when they are confronted with printed materials they cannot perform simple tasks such as filling out a [[form]], understanding a [[contract]], following written instructions, reading a [[newspaper]] article, [[traffic sign]]s, consulting a [[dictionary]], or understanding a [[bus]] schedule. Because of functional illiteracy, these people also have a lot of trouble using modern [[information technology|communication technologies]], such as a [[personal computer]] or a [[mobile phone]]. ==Links with poverty and crime== The people who are functionally illiterate often have other problems as well: Other people may [[bullying|bully]] them, they may have higher health risks, and stress. Because they cannot get good jobs, they often earn little money. [[Criminology|Crime-researcher]]s and [[sociologist]]s have talked about the link between functional illiteracy and [[crime]]. ==How common it is== ''Business'' magazine estimates that 15 million functionally illiterate adults had a job in the United States at the start of the 21st century. The [[Am