How do illiterate people survive in modern society? My grandmother can’t read at all. She can’t read directions or instructions, so she avoids going out. If she has to, for example, go to the hospital or the bank, someone has to escort her. She can’t sign her own name - she tried but failed when a signature was required. My mother explains to doctors or bankers that she can't write and asks if she can use a fingerprint to instead. A doctor they met was patient, who said "You can try to write it first"; she tried but failed (my late step-grandpa taught her but she forgot). But the bankers they met were too young to believe it. They asked "You can’t even write your name?" Even though she watches television, she doesn't understand the plot. She can only focus on eating and sleeping. She sleeps 16 or 17 hours every day. When my step-grandpa was still alive, he shook his head and said to my mother, "The length of your mother's sleeping, no one could compare."