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A PORTRAIT OF A SOCIETY THROUGH THE WORDS AND FACES OF THREE ADULTS STRUGGLING WITH ILLITERACY Schooling has been mandatory in Quebec since 1962, but illiteracy persists in the province, and the statistics are alarming: 1.3 million Quebecers aged 16 and older (16% of the adult population) have serious difficulty reading and writing. Worse still, one in three young people is illiterate, half of the Quebec labour force lags behind its potential, and two out of three people in the province are unable to understand, by reading, information vital to maintaining good health. Focusing on the words and faces of three adults struggling with illiteracy, the Web essay Des maux illisibles paints a portrait of a society with feet of clay. Each interviewee reveals the daily realities of someone who can neither read nor write; each prompts us to think about the causes as well as the social and economic impacts of illiteracy in three areas crucial to the future of society: education, employment and health. Mathieu, age 18, left school at 16, never having learned to read a newspaper article. Sylvie, 52, is looking for a job that will be less physically strenuous at her age, but is unable to fill out a job application form. At 42, Diane faces serious health issues, but can’t understand any of her doctor’s explanations. Behind these people’s words lurk the ills of a society for which literacy is a struggle.