taught me things
someone who was 99.99% illiterate, could barely read or write, taught me things that person could see that I could not see.
They say, for instance, if you are deaf or say, blind, the brain compensates and devolops other qualities.
So it is with literacy.
It will form the brain in a certain way; including what books you read, if you do read.
One book can change your entire life.
Many of my ancestors were illiterate; did that make them stupid? I doubt.