Dale Appleton

Thirty year old Dale Appleton's family moved around a lot as he was growing up, which meant changing schools. Dale says, "I was always trying to catch up. The teacher'd be teaching some new letter or some sound, and I had no clue what she was talking about. So, I just never learned to read."

Eventually Dale dropped out of school and found a job as a dishwasher where reading wasn't a requirement. Dale learned to cover up the fact that he couldn't read, by saying , "I forgot my glasses" or " just read it to me." He even carried a newpaper around with him to make people think he could read. Dale was embarrassed and felt that if he couldn't read, he must be dumb.

One day, after getting mad at himself for pretending, Dale called the Homer Literacy Program and now works with a tutor twice a week. His wife, Jane and daughter, Caroline are very proud of him. Dale is now optimistic about his future. "I want to get my GED, and I want to be able to read for life- you know, things like the newspaper, notices at work, street signs, letters from my kid's school- stuff like that."

Dale is featured in The Kids on the Block Program on Literacy.