“People have asked me if I had a learning disability as a child,” says Bob Mendez, himself the proud father of seven, “but I really believe that what happened to me is that I was forgotten. “I remember distinctly all the Hispanic children in the third grade were put into a corner while the other children had their lessons. Slowly but surely, we fell further and further behind. When I got to the sixth grade, my parents expressed their concern to the teacher. The teacher politely told them that I did not have to learn how to read well, that I would learn a trade. I never did learn to read in school.”

In 1984 Bob approached the Glendale, California YWCA Literacy Council and was assigned to a tutor. “I knew this was my last chance. If this didn’t work, I would have to accept that I would never learn to read. Thankfully, that was not the case.”

“Soon I was asked to go to Oakland, California, to help create workshops for students by students. I felt I didn’t belong there. Who was going to listen to me?” Bob has learned that many people are listening. He is a tireless media spokesperson for literacy. He has served on ProLiteracy Worldwide’s national student committee and board of trustees.

Today he says, “I had always thought of myself as a failure. But after I learned to read, my boss told me that I had always been a success. Then I realized that it didn’t matter how I got through that door — what mattered was that I did it. It may have taken me longer, it may have taken a wider way to get there. But I got there, anyway.”