INTRODUCTION: Social interaction and access to education and health depend on intersubjective processes that become effective through different language modalities. We consider that individuals' reading and writing conditions have an important role in their ageing process. OBJECTIVE: This paper aims to analyze literacy conditions of a group composed by individuals with at least 60 years old that attend a Health Unit in Praça Ouvidor Pardinho, located in Curitiba, Brazil. For that we applied a questionnaire and a reading test that hold different genres with 22 individuals. The questionnaire includes: age, school level, profession and reading and writing conditions. In the reading test, the individuals had to locate written information and realize inference. RESULTS: The results show that these ageing population had a restrict access to written language. CONCLUSIONS: It is important to note that the fulfilment of the Brazilian Elderly Statute depends on public policies that guarantee the literacy promotion to this group of people. Without the developing of these practices, it is impossible to consider an egalitarian society that allows elderly people to be effective citizens.
Interpersonal Relations; Access to Information; Health Services Accessibility; Reading; Comprehension; Handwriting; Public Policies; Curitiba city; Elderly; Language