Got any sites for any of this junk? Never heard of "spelling reform" and I'd like to know when any European country supposedly did it. Last time I saw French written you still didn't pronounce half the letters, and I took six years of German which was nevera language that believed in silent letters but also isn't a language that believes in short easy to spell words. So that's two major languages and a few more European countries that apparently never "refromed" their spelling.
I'm one of the worst spellers I know, but I don't blame the language, I blame myself for always being in a hurry and never taking the time to get good at spelling, and I still manage to do lots of reading, have a good job, and never go to jail. I don't think literacy and spelling are as tightly tied as you're projecting, there's a difference between knowing what the word is when you see it written and writing it properly. You can be good at the former (functionally literate) and stink at the later.
For more on reform see www.spellingsociety.org or www.americanliteracy.com/alc6.htm