This monograph presents what illiterate and formerly illiterate adults have said regarding what it is like to be unable to read in a world that presumes everyone is literate, and of experiences they have had while acquiring the ability to read and write. In later chapters the authors, who were involved in the Vermont Adult Basic Education (ABE) program, address issues that learners find more difficult to deal with. Chapter 1 provides adult learners' views of what it is (and is not) like to be illiterate. Topics considered include mythologies of literacy, realities of the mythology, realities of illiteracy, coping with illiteracy, and realities of literacy. Chapter 2 concerns what it is like to decide to become literate. Both constraining forces and facilitating factors are discussed. Chapter 3 focuses on what the process of becoming literate is like, who can support this process, and how. It addresses the necessary unlearning and relearning and what is learned. Chapter 4 then describes how the Vermont Adult Basic Education Program integrated home-based tutorial instruction with more traditional methods of delivering adult basic education. (YLB)