“We are the imprint we leave behind” Text on the T-shirts for ONCE’s annual inclusive race. Photo © ONCE Ronda
Everyone in Spain has probably seen the lottery kiosks with the sign ONCE in capital letters. Many know these are run by the Spanish National Organization for the Blind or Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles (ONCE). But what most people don't know is that Grupo Social ONCE is much more than an aid organization for the visually impaired. It is also the world's largest employer of people with disabilities!
To get better acquainted with the organization, I arranged to meet with the managing director of one of their ten district offices in the Málaga province, as well as one of the organization's over 71,000 affiliate members and one of the 20,000 salespeople one meets on the streets, squares, and in the ONCE kiosks around the country. I came out of the meetings with an enormous respect for what they have accomplished and continue to accomplish. After you have read this article, I hope you also will buy ONCE lotto tickets - not to win, but to help this remarkable organization.
From User to Executive Director- Francisco Javier Gómez Molina (37)
Francisco Javier Gómez Molina. Photo © Karethe Linaae
Javi’s story
Francisco Javier, or Javi as his friends and colleagues call him, was completely blind when he was born. When he was one year old, his parents registered him as an affiliate member of ONCE in his hometown of Vélez-Málaga, so that he could receive the assistance and materials he needed to study on an equal footing with other students. After primary and secondary school, Javi studied law in Málaga and Paris and became a lawyer.
-I was teaching before Covid, but it was impossible to continue during the pandemic. It gave me time to reflect, and I decided that if I didn't return to the workforce, who knew when it would happen? I started selling lottery tickets for ONCE in February 2021. It was a completely new experience, but everything you learn professionally and personally can be useful.
Two years later, in February 2023, ONCE hired Javi as executive director of the 80 employees and the approximately 130 affiliate members of the district office serving Ronda and 30 villages in La Serranía de Ronda.
- ONCE has shaped my life, all the way from when I received help as a child. Through my work, I have become even more involved in the organization by executing the services that help our members.
Javi outside the office. Photo © Karethe Linaae
Unique in the world
Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles (ONCE) was founded on December 13. 1938 by a group of smaller associations for the blind whose members didn’t want to be dependent on alms and charity. The first lottery was drawn on May 8. 1939, and the objective continues to be the same to this day - to include the blind and visually impaired in society via something as simple as lottery sales.
- ONCE has grown enormously from the first three-digit lotto tickets to all the different lotteries we have today. The organizational model makes us unique in the world. We are an independent, not-for-profit organization financed exclusively through lottery ticket sales. Everything happens with the knowledge and consent of the Spanish government, and all the sellers are employed and part of the Spanish social security system. ONCE commercializes safe, social, and responsible games with external verifications that guarantee the legality and transparency of the lotteries. All income from the sales that do not go to salaries and prizes is reinvested in the organization's social work.
Some of ONCE's 80 lotto sellers in Serranía de Ronda. Photo © ONCE Ronda
Today, they have 135 district offices coordinated from the headquarters in Madrid. ONCE has created various foundations that provide training, equipment and help with job training and employment for the disabled, a foundation for the deafblind, a mutual aid foundation for the blind in Latin America, a guide dog foundation, and this year, they launched a foundation for people with low vision.
-Our affiliates can be 100 % blind, have a severe visual impairment, or have other disabilities. The organization’s assistance ranges from psychological help, social workers, and rehab technicians to services for guide dogs and training using computers with special screens. At the same time, people with other types of disabilities or people who have been disabled due to work accidents and need help getting used to their new living situation can turn to the organization in search of employment.
Fra glass cutter to a white cane - Juan Jesús Barragán Jiménez (68)
Juan Jesús Barragán Jiménez. Photo © Karethe Linaae
Juan’s story
Juan worked as a glass cutter until he began losing sight some 20 years ago. While he could still make out letters, he took a braille course. Today, Juan is completely blind (3% vision) and moves around town with his white cane. He took up his braille studies recently and continues to study as an affiliate member of ONCE.
- Braille is a writing system with two parallel vertical lines and three dots, a combination of which all letters, numbers, and punctuations are written. Our course takes place every 15 days, and we have texts that we must prepare at home and then read aloud to the class. At first, it's difficult, but as you get used to the system, it gets easier.
Braille alphabet by ONCE. Photo © Karethe Linaae
Juan says he is lucky because he could see before he went blind. In his job, he knew every street in the city, and this helps him now because he can visualize where he needs to go. But he admits that all the tourists downtown make it "very, very, very difficult" for him.
- It is impossible for me to walk down the main street without a companion. I also need help to cross the bridge, and if I go alone, I usually end up in an argument. Most people rush about and don't look around. Some are kind and take me by the arm and follow me across the bridge, but others don't even move aside. If they complain because I am 'in their way', I say: You can see. I can't!
ONCE has taught Juan how to walk with his cane on the street and helped him with his mobile phone. If he has problems, he can call a specialist technician for the blind.
- They’ll come and help you at home, but you must be prepared to wait. They may only come once a month because they serve so many places. I would love to take a computer course with ONCE, but there are never enough students to get a teacher. Ronda is a small town, so if you want to learn computer skills for the blind, you must go to Málaga where they offer all the different courses.
Who are the ONCE sellers?
Some of ONCE’s lottery ticket sellers. Photo © ONCE Ronda
ONCE has always tried to be inclusive, Javi explains from the ONCE office.
- We work for inclusion in society at all levels, inside and outside the organization. ONCE has over 20,000 sellers in Spain today, but I wish we were even more so that more disabled people who are unemployed today could support themselves and their families.
ONCE's lottery sellers receive minimum wage plus commissions and have statutory days off and regular holidays, but as Javi points out, they receive much more.
- We look after our employees and seek stability for them and their families. Perhaps they have been unemployed for several years and get the satisfaction of being able to contribute, have financial stability, and bring money home to their families again. But it is not just about financial, and practical help. Our goal is that our employees no longer must live with uncertainty, which means less stress and fear and a better sense of self.
ONCE brings members to visit Parauta, including Juan, his wife Inés, and Javi. Photo © ONCE Ronda.
To work for ONCE, the applicants must be at least 33.3 % disabled, as required by the Spanish social security system. If there is no medical reason that prevents them, blind, severely visually impaired, other disabled, and those unable to work due to an accident can apply for a job with ONCE. In addition to the health requirements, the applicant must partake in ONCE's training and exams. After passing a six-month trial and two annual renewals, they get a permanent position.
The sellers have their fixed places where they sell tickets and are responsible for returning unsold tickets drawn the same evening so that the system does not register the tickets as outstanding or still in play.
ONCE’s face on the street - Lottery seller Ana María López Valiente (49)
“ONCE would never have existed had it not been for the sellers." Ana María López Valiente. Photo © Karethe Linaae
Ana’s story
When Ana was two years old, she fell on the playground and hit her head. The doctor said there was nothing to worry about, but eight months later, Ana woke up one day unable to walk or stand on her legs. Until she was 15, she had to go to Málaga for weekly treatments, but it was the wife of a traumatologist who finally got her walking again. Twenty years later, Ana was a newly divorced single mother with an 11-year-old daughter, and her €300 in monthly disability benefits from the Junta de Andalucía wasn’t even enough for food. ONCE gave her a chance. Today Ana has worked with them for 14 years and is a mentor and instructor for the organization.
- I have been disabled since I was a child, but nothing is difficult for me. I have never had problems or complexes. I've done what I could and that's it. Until my teens, I had a special boot and a metal brace on my leg. Some kids at school laughed at me and said, "Here comes the cripple", but I just ignored them. I was lucky to have good teachers who made the other students stop bullying me. When I became a mother myself and got divorced, I wondered how on earth I was going to cope. A friend recommended ONCE, but my parents didn’t want me to lose my disability benefits. Now they bless the day when I started working for ONCE ...
Ana never studied nursing as she dreamed of as a child, but with her permanent job, she is not only independent, but can help her family. And she also found love via ONCE!
- The Madrid head office selected me as a mentor to teach future salespeople and evaluate their suitability for the job. My boyfriend Pedro was one of my students. I had never taught a blind person before, so I had to get complete training. We worked together for three or four months before we became a couple, and later I moved in with him. He helps me at home, and I help him at work. Today, there are many aids for the blind such as kitchen appliances with braille. I would love to take a braille course. ONCE also offers English, IT and management courses. If I wanted to, I could study to become an administrator, but I'm happy where I am.
Ana has many loyal customers and when she is not at her regular corner, they call her and ask where she is.
- When I was new to the job, I had to invent something to increase my sales, so I dressed up. Now, it has become a tradition. Every celebration - Christmas, Carnival, Ronda Romántica, pride days, Black Friday, and Halloween - I dress up and if I'm not, my customers wonder what’s wrong!
Ana dressed up for Halloween, 11.11 and Feria de Ronda. Photo © Ana López
Through her work, Ana has become an expert on people since customers often tell her their problems.
-Many people have a hard time making ends meet, but almost everyone can buy a lottery ticket for a couple of euros, which gives them hope. The biggest prize I ever gave out was €20,000. But the best was when I gave a prize to a customer who said I had saved his life. He explained that he had no money for the dentist, but with the €600 he had won, he could pay his bill.
For once, it's not just me, the journalist, asking questions. Ana also wants to 'test' me.
- I have a question for you. How do blind sellers distinguish one note from another?
-By feel???
- They stick the note between two fingers. By the size, they know whether it is €5, €10, or €20-note. They identify coins by their thickness and edge. A blind seller can distinguish between all our lotto coupons and know the expiry date because the coupons are embossed with the day and date.
Although it may seem like some ticket sellers don't have any health problems, they always do. Ana e has a colleague who is going blind due to diabetes and others with spinal cord- or heart problems, ailments that outsiders cannot necessarily detect.
- ONCE is an organization that changes lives. Many sellers have thought “If I don't get a job with ONCE, who else will hire me?” We are a team that supports each other. We have safe, stable, and dignified work. Few jobs are so ideal!
Ana at work. Photo © Karethe Linaae