Eight decades of evolution have contributed to breaking down the social, mental and architectural barriers holding blind people back.

ONCE’s responsible gaming allows Spain to deliver free social services to people who are blind or severely partially sighted, and to show solidarity with the overall disability movement through ONCE Foundation. Thanks to accessibility, universal design, adaptive technologies and ILUNION, our social business group, we have generated employment opportunities for thousands of people with disabilities, thus contributing to creating more inclusive environments.

For some decades now, ONCE has been an active member of the World Blind Union (WBU), the organisation representing some 253 million visually impaired people worldwide. WBU’s members are organisations of and for blind people in 190 countries, as well as other international organisations engaged in the field of visual impairment.

Convinced as we are that our model for inclusion can be replicated elsewhere, ONCE Social Group’s international activities also include providing technical assistance, forging partnerships, offering our co-operation and participating actively in a range of global platforms in the fields of employment, responsible gaming, the rights of persons with disabilities and the social economy, with the goal of turning the Spanish model into a global model for the social inclusion of people with disabilities.

ONCE offers the opportunity to develop multi-jurisdictional responsible gaming products in Europe and Ibero-America; we are a trusted partner of the European Union, managing European Social Funds through ONCE Foundation; we take our projects to other countries via Inserta Empleo to boost inclusion in the market place; and we share our expertise in accessibility, universal design, training and further education beyond Spain.

We also add a social component to the Ibero-American business world by internationalising our Ilunion companies, which are committed to employing people with disabilities. We act internationally with a view to introducing ONCE Social Group’s model wherever we engage globally. We generate opportunities to create more inclusive multilateral environments through partnerships with multinationals, global and regional organisations, foundations and other international stakeholders.

ONCE Social Group’s philosophy for expansion is to extrapolate an open, inclusive, sustainable and unique model promoting independence and visibility for people with disabilities - a model which has been recognised internationally and received endorsement through prestigious awards such as the 2013 Prince of Asturias Award for Concord and the United Nations Franklin D. Roosevelt Disability Rights Award, known as the ‘social Nobel’.