10 Apr ‘Just in time’ calls to the Hotline
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Calls to the Hotline point to a real need for ‘just in time’ literacy services in the community. Hear about the experiences of two callers with literacy challenges who were trying to get help for complex issues.
The Reading Writing Hotline regularly receives calls and emails from people who need immediate help with reading and responding to documents and forms, especially those online.
Often these callers are referred by government agencies and businesses in the hope that we can directly assist their clients with documents or online form submissions. Or that we will be able to identify a local hands-on organisation who can help.
Caller stories
A recent caller “Liam” * was about to lose his housing but couldn’t manage the forms he needed to complete for court, and couldn’t get an answer from the advocacy service he was ringing. The Hotline managed to untangle some of Liam’s issues, found some immediate support for filling in the forms, and got through to the advocacy service to make an appointment for him.
In another complex call received recently, “Anne” * was struggling with paperwork required by a state housing tribunal and with a short deadline. Her ageing father was in care, and she strongly suspected he was the victim of ongoing elder abuse. Anne wanted to move her father to alternative housing urgently but couldn’t manage the necessary forms.
A representative of the state-based housing tribunal advised Anne to ring the Hotline. One of the Hotline’s teachers managed to identify three hands-on agencies for Anne – Senior’s Rights, an Ageing Abuse Hotline, and a Carers Network.
Following up a week later, the Hotline was pleased that Anne had managed to complete and submit the necessary forms. We also took the opportunity to discuss any literacy, numeracy and digital literacy needs that the Hotline could help her with.
Meeting the needs of people such as Liam and Anne is also explored in Dr Sally Thompson’s work on literacy mediation. Sally defines literacy mediation as “a situation in which a person with higher literacy skills helps a person with lesser skills to read and write text for a particular social purpose”.
Check out the December 2024 edition of Literacy Links which has an interview with Sally which explores these issues in more detail.
Liam and Anne’s stories point to a strong need for ‘just in time’ literacy services in the community. Although such services can be provided through a number of community and government agencies, they can be difficult to find. Obtaining literacy support for legal documents can be particularly difficult. These services are also harder to access in regional Australia.
Although the Hotline can’t provide direct assistance in these cases we refer people to local services who can help – if they are available. These, local services do amazing work and make a huge difference to people who are often struggling with complex issues.
* Not their real names