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The Spanish National Organisation for the Blind (ONCE) is the realisation of the will of our country’s blind, who, during the 1930s, used to belong to several different associations, mainly in Andalusia, Catalonia and Eastern Spain. These efforts led to the creation of the ONCE on December 13th 1938, on the basis of a decree law that granted the new organisation the right to commercialise the Pro-blind Cupón Lotto scheme and thus provide members with the means to earn a living.

The first lotto draw organised by the ONCE was held in May 1939. For many years, until December 1983, the Cupón Lotto ticket had only three numbers and different draws were held in each province.

The top representative of the Organisation was then appointed by the Government and the position gave the holder the rank of a National Chief.

A range of professional opportunities / economic downturn

Since its creation, the Cupón lotto scheme has provided jobs to the majority of the blind population, but the ONCE also wanted to diversify and expand their professional opportunities. Therefore, during the 1970s mostly, the Organisation created training and employment centres such as a Telephony School, a Vocational Training Centre and the University School of Physiotherapy. This would eventually prove to be the ONCE’s highest achievement, as students have been able to secure employment with greater ease. At the same time, the ONCE also opened education centres, centres for rehabilitation and social services, Braille and Talking Book libraries, etc.

However, as the ONCE was growing and expanding, its sole source of income, the Cupón lotto scheme, began to show signs of exhaustion, and the draws were dangerously losing pace with the times and lacking competitiveness.

Democracy and modernisation

On January 19th 1982, the members of the Organisation were able to elect their leaders through direct and secret ballot for the first time in the history of the ONCE, an event that marked the incorporation of the Organisation into the new democratic system in force since June 15th 1977. Since then, members elect their leaders every four years. Since the process of democratisation began, the Organisation also underwent a thorough process of modernisation that focused primarily on the Cupón lotto scheme.

A completely new Cupón was launched on January 2nd 1984: now it had four numbers instead of three and the draws were reduced to a single one for the entire country. This renovation had a highly positive impact, enabling the ONCE to get fresh air in financial terms, which in turn would enable the ONCE to tackle outstanding social projects involving new products and developments in the future.

Throughout the last two decades, the ONCE has created and developed social services for the blind and the visually handicapped in the areas of personal autonomy, educational care, sports, elderly care, and many others. Also, the ONCE Foundation “for cooperation and social integration of the disabled” was created in 1988. Later, in 1993, the ONCE Business Corporation (CEOSA) was set up with the purpose of diversifying ONCE’s activities across sectors such as the tourism and services industries. Five years later, in 1998, the ONCE Foundation for Latin America initiated its socially responsible activities in support of the Ibero American blind.

New technologies

Blind and partially sighted people are not foreign to technological advances which represent a first-class qualitative and quantitative step forward in their autonomy.

Computers, the Internet, electronic mail, mobile phones (...), supported with accesible programmes and specific devices for their usefulness mean the opening or a wide range of possibilities in the personal, labour and social field.

Surfing the Net, for example, is no longer a problem for blind people in the 21st century. However, this was inconceivable hardly twenty years ago. 

After over seventy years of life, the ONCE has moved from providing care and assistance services to the full normalisation of the sector. This translates into almost zero level of unemployment and a reasonable level of autonomy among its members, leading in turn to acquiring the skills to tackle daily life activities just like any other non-disabled citizen. This is an absolutely amazing situation, especially if we consider it from the perspective of the founding members of the Spanish National Organisation for the Blind in the 1930s.