Context: it is still common for very old people in Brazil to be illiterate, schooling was hardly available outside of urban areas until around mid 20th century. The prescription in the picture is for high blood pressure and diabetes, which makes the case more likely. The city of Belém is also on a relatively newly developed area, so it's likely the patient never got schooled as a child, but most certainly the next couple generations after him have been so.
About the hours: even most illiterate people are able to read the clock just fine, they may not be able to do math with time, but they can match the numbers just fine and usually know the order between numbers too. This is likely not a case of learning impairment, just lack of access to education.
I once worked at a hospital where we did a heart transplant and, after the transplant, discovered that the child's mother was illiterate. We ended up doing something similar with a color-coded prescription sheet.
Fun fact: literacy test is now a part of the transplant evaluation
CourtneyBee34 on September 4th, 2018 at 23:36 UTC »
Love this! It takes a special physician/medical facility to take the time to do this!
guhcampos on September 5th, 2018 at 01:01 UTC »
Context: it is still common for very old people in Brazil to be illiterate, schooling was hardly available outside of urban areas until around mid 20th century. The prescription in the picture is for high blood pressure and diabetes, which makes the case more likely. The city of Belém is also on a relatively newly developed area, so it's likely the patient never got schooled as a child, but most certainly the next couple generations after him have been so.
About the hours: even most illiterate people are able to read the clock just fine, they may not be able to do math with time, but they can match the numbers just fine and usually know the order between numbers too. This is likely not a case of learning impairment, just lack of access to education.
Inyalowda on September 5th, 2018 at 01:45 UTC »
I once worked at a hospital where we did a heart transplant and, after the transplant, discovered that the child's mother was illiterate. We ended up doing something similar with a color-coded prescription sheet.
Fun fact: literacy test is now a part of the transplant evaluation