ONCE asks the RAE to modify the meaning of ‘read’ in the Dictionary to include reading the Braille system

The ONCE has asked the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) to modify its Dictionary of the Spanish Language (DLE) to adapt the definition of the term ‘read’ so that it takes into account people with blindness or visual disabilities who use the Braille system, as ONCE sources have revealed to Europa Press. Precisely, this Sunday, January 4, World Braille Day is celebrated.

From the RAE they have told Europa Press that “the request has arrived and is being studied by the Institute of Lexicography (ILEX) of the RAE.”

The first meaning of the term ‘read’, as it appears in the DLE, excludes, within the action it defines, any other way of executing it other than “looking” – in this case – over a written or printed text.

From the ONCE they assure that it is “widely demonstrated” that, both by means of sight and by touch – “running the fingers” over raised braille characters -, the same action is carried out and the same effects are achieved: “understanding the meaning of the characters used.” Furthermore, they add that neuroscientific studies have corroborated that both types of reading activate the same brain mechanisms.

For this reason, they request that the first meaning of ‘read’ be “adapted” so that it does not refer exclusively to sight as the only sense with which one can read, or that a new meaning be added that puts the reading of the Braille system, through touch, at the same level as reading by looking over a text.

This new meaning would be added to the eight that the dictionary already includes, none of which includes anything about it.

According to the latest Report from the World Health Organization (WHO), in the world, at least 2.2 billion people are blind or visually impaired. Furthermore, according to ONCE, currently, more than 285 million blind people around the world use the Braille reading and writing system to access education and culture autonomously.

The braille system is made up of six points with 64 combinations that are used to compose letters and numbers, write in any language, read sheet music or annotate chess games. In 2018, the UN proclaimed World Braille Day on January 4, the birth date of its creator, Louis Braille (1809-1852).