Description: What can we discover about the learning and use of literacy from a study of affective aspects of inequality? In addition to its more recognised role in economic, political, cultural and working life, literacy is one of the fundamental means of fostering and sustaining our solidary interdependence. The general neglect of this affective domain is strongly echoed in traditional analyses of unmet adult literacy needs where economic causes and consequences dominate most debates. Beyond the purely economic focus, cultural, social and political aspects of literacy have been highlighted through Freirean critical literacy theory and the increasing body of work done in New Literacy Studies. This widening of literacy perspectives is important and welcome; nevertheless, it by no means provides the complete picture. The vital role of the emotions in literacy learning and use remains relatively unrecognised even though literacy events are always relational. It is suggested here that the emotional poverty that results from care inequalities has a major adverse influence on the learning of literacy and all the relationships that literacy should subsequently facilitate. Inevitably, these literacy-linked affective inequalities are intricately causally and consequentially related to the more recognised inequalities of wealth, power and status. For this reason, the focus of this paper will be not only on inequalities of care related to literacy but also on how these affective inequalities interface with issues of resources, respect and recognition and representation. The study uses the theoretical framework of equality developed in the Equality Studies Centre, University College Dublin. Methodology: Three years ethnographic research with adults with unmet literacy needs form the basis of this research. By September I will have drawn on in depth interviews with literacy learners and their advocates. In particular this paper will illustrate the experiences of adults who are survivors of institutional abuse. Qualitative data will be coded and analysed with the aid of computer assisted data analysis software - MAXqda. Conclusions: The findings are expected to illustrate the centrality of specific aspects of care to the learning and use of literacy