Difficulty, Not Discrimination: A Literacy Problem

 

Put In the Work

This started because I saw a video on TikTok.

A teenager was arguing that the word scrying was ableist because they didn’t know what it meant.

And my first thought was simple:

Look it up.

Not because I’m dismissing struggle.

But because that’s how learning works.

And that’s where I think we’re getting confused.

Somewhere along the line, we’ve started mixing up difficulty and discrimination.

Those are not the same thing.

Difficulty is when something is hard to do, understand, or overcome.

Discrimination—like ableism—is when barriers or prejudice exist because of disability.

And yes, ableism is real.

And it isn’t always obvious.

Sometimes it’s overt.

Sometimes it’s structural.

Sometimes it’s a lack of access, support, or accommodation.

That matters.

But not knowing a word?

That’s not discrimination.

That’s learning.

And learning starts in a very uncomfortable place:

Not knowing.

You don’t know what you know until you know what you don’t know.

And that’s okay.

That’s not failure.

That’s the starting line.

Even writing this, I had to stop and check words.

I had to double-check mannequin.

Not because I didn’t know what it was.

I knew exactly what I meant.

I just needed to confirm the spelling.

That’s literacy too.

And I’ll be honest:

Spelling has never been my strongest area.

I work on it.

Because English is messy.

It pulls from Germanic, Latin, Greek, French and other roots.

That’s why English spelling can feel chaotic.

That doesn’t mean you stop.

It means you keep checking.

Keep learning.

Keep improving.

That’s literacy.

Not perfection.

Persistence.

And here in Australia, we were taught this early.

Prep-level stuff.

Context clues.

Look at the picture.

What’s happening?

What do you already know?

If there’s a fish in water and the sentence says:

“The fish swam back to the ____.”

You infer.

A fish lives in water.

Maybe it’s a tank.

That’s comprehension.

That’s literacy building.

Phonics matters too.

And Australia is moving back toward explicit teaching because it works.

And honestly, I always thought explicit teaching was just… teaching.

Explain the concept.

Show an example.

Do it together.

Check understanding.

Repeat.

That’s how people learn.

Whole-language approaches, where children rely heavily on guessing and context without strong decoding skills, have been increasingly criticised because for many learners they don’t work well enough.

That’s part of why there’s been a return to structured literacy and phonics.

Because reading is not magic.

It’s a skill.

And skills take work.

I’m doing maths right now.

Using Khan Academy.

Looking at extra courses.

Sitting in the discomfort of not knowing.

Because I want to improve.

That matters.

Because growth starts with admitting:

I don’t know this yet.

That’s huge.

That’s accountability.

And honestly, accountability seems to be missing in some people.

Not all.

But some.

Sometimes what’s missing isn’t access.

It’s accountability.

Not liking a word doesn’t make it harmful.

Not knowing a word doesn’t make it exclusion.

Sometimes it just means:

you don’t know it yet.

And being an adult means admitting that.

Not everything is for you.

And that’s okay too.

That’s part of maturity.

Part of adulthood is recognising:

this topic isn’t my area.

This book is above me right now.

This skill needs work.

That’s not weakness.

That’s honesty.

And honesty is where learning begins.

And here in Australia, we’ve built systems to support that.

TAFE.

Libraries.

The Reading Writing Hotline.

Support workers.

Day centres.

Austudy.

Youth Allowance.

Education supplements.

Disability support payments can include study supplements.

If you’re under 30, there are pathways.

If you need support, there are pathways.

If you need to build literacy or skills for work, there are pathways.

Sometimes we literally pay people to learn if it helps them become employable.

That matters.

And we’re even moving toward placement subsidies for university students.

That’s a whole other conversation.

But the point remains:

the support exists.

You still have to show up.

Because every job needs literacy.

Not just academic literacy.

Applied literacy.

The janitor needs ratios.

Chemical dilution.

Safety.

Timing.

The garbo needs routes.

Schedules.

Spatial awareness.

Maths.

Retail workers know stock systems, customer patterns, and where the mannequin ended up.

And if you’re nice, they’ll probably help you find it.

That’s literacy too.

Not everything valuable happens in a classroom.

And not everything difficult is oppression.

Sometimes difficulty is the thing that builds the skill.

That’s true in reading.

In maths.

In work.

In life.

And this is where critical thinking matters most.

Critical thinking means stopping and asking:

What does this actually mean?

What is the evidence?

Am I reacting because I understand it?

Or because I don’t?

That’s adulthood.

Not knowing everything.

But knowing how to think.

Because literacy isn’t just reading words.

It’s reading ideas.

Reading systems.

Reading people.

And knowing what to do when you don’t understand.

So no.

Seeing a word like scrying and not knowing it isn’t ableism.

It’s a moment.

A fork in the road.

You can stop.

Or you can learn.

And that choice matters.

Because literacy isn’t knowing every word.

Literacy is knowing what to do when you don’t.

Not every book is for you right now.

Not every word will make sense.

Not every concept will be easy.

That doesn’t mean the world has failed you.

Sometimes it means the world is asking you to grow.

And growth takes effort.

Growth takes humility.

Growth takes accountability.

Put in the work.

Further reading on literacy instruction:
https://apples.journal.fi/article/view/97845