[jaws-uk] Re: Gates Signs Deal On Software For The Blind
- From: "Barry" <bbinc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Jaws list" <jaws-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 07:09:42 -0000
Do you know why Bill Gates is developing the software in Spain? It might have
something to do with the Spanish association for the blind running a national
lottery and, therefore, being one of the richest companies in Spain. Bill
Gates may give a lot to charity but he is still a business man and has to look
after his shareholders.
Here's an article from the Spanish National Federation of the Blind that I wish
all governments would adopt :
SPANISH BLIND GROUP THRIVES ON LARGESS OF LOTTERY
By: CIARAN GILES
Editor?s Note: The following article is re-printed from the Associated Press,
May 29, 2000.
MADRID, Spain (AP) - The Spanish Civil War killed and maimed hundreds of
thousands of soldiers and civilians and left much of Spain in ruins. Yet, for
one
disabled group, the war's legacy has had advantages.
No one knows how many people were blinded in the 1936-39 conflict, but eager to
rid himself of the problem, dictator Francisco Franco ordered them to form
a national organization and take care of themselves. To encourage them, he
granted the right to create a national lottery. Six decades later, with Franco
long dead and democracy fully restored, the National Organization of Blind
Spaniards has blossomed into one of Spain's most successful businesses and one
of the world's most dynamic disabled support groups.
"There's no doubt about it, if you're going to be blind, be Spanish," quips
Miguel Callejas, a blind man who has sold lottery tickets the past 28 years
for ONCE, the Spanish acronym for the organization. Lottery drawings, staged
every day except Saturday, bring in the equivalent of dlrs 2.3 billion a year.
Profits enable the organization to guarantee employment for nearly all of
Spain's 60,000 blind.
"I know of nothing even comparable to the ONCE in the entire world," said Edwin
Vaughan, a blind sociology professor at the University of Missouri who has
studied how countries view and treat blind people. "In nearly every country,
the United States included, blindness is associated with begging and the blind
are virtually totally dependent on welfare assistance with employment
opportunities severely limited," he said. "In Spain, it's the opposite."
In the United States, unemployment among the blind rarely falls below 70
percent, while in Spain, it's hardly ever above 5 percent, Vaughan said. The
European
Blind Union says its latest figures, for 1995, showed that out of 41,000 blind
adults available for work in Germany, only 9,000 had a job. In France, only
7,000 of the 18,000 working age blind were employed. ONCE receives no
government subsidy and its board is independent and elected every four years by
its
members, all blind or sight-impaired. The growth of the lottery allowed ONCE to
gradually build up a business empire with stakes in everything from hotels
to construction. In the 1980s, it branched into the media, founding a private
national TV channel, a national daily newspaper and a popular radio chain.
But sensing expansion was tarnishing its more-important image as a caring group
for the disabled, ONCE sold off its principal media holdings -- at a profit.
Nowadays, ONCE is as Spanish as bullfighting, sidewalk cafes and soccer.
Vendors wearing dark glasses and carrying canes pace the streets in nearly every
village, barking out, "Lucky numbers for today!" In the cities, single vendors
sit in enclosed ONCE kiosks, selling tickets through glass windows.
The lottery has thrived not only because Spaniards love to gamble, but because
of clever marketing and slick advertising. Midweek coupons sell for 200 pesetas
(dlrs 1.25), offering a chance at 500 daily top prizes of 5 million pesetas
(dlrs 33,000) each and thousands of smaller winnings. The No. 1 prize for the
Sunday lottery pays dlrs 58,000 a year for 25 years.
Totally independent since 1982, ONCE plows its profits into serving its
members. It runs Europe's biggest guide dog school, a factory whose products
include
canes, children's Braille sets and portable speech-activated computers and
social rehabilitation centers. It also works with other companies, such as
Microsoft,
to develop systems and technical innovations for the blind. On a more public
level, ONCE runs a touch-and-feel art Museum for the Blind. In 1998, it
organized
an international competition in Madrid for blind athletes. In recent years,
ONCE has supported projects for the blind abroad, including in several Latin
American nations, notably Chile and Argentina.
ONCE estimates there are 150 million blind people in the world, but many poor
countries do not keep records on who and where they are. "The ONCE's idea
is that the blind should care for the blind. In most countries, nobody looks
after them at all," said Rafael Mondaca, the organization's director of
international
relations. ONCE recognizes that even though it is private, it has a privileged
position and the government could withdraw its lottery rights or grant licenses
to other causes. "Fortunately, it wouldn't make business sense for the Spanish
government to do so because it knows that if ONCE crumbled it would then
be responsible for looking after the blind itself," said Pedro Zurrita, who
heads the World Blind Organization, which is based in Madrid.
"For the Civil War authorities, it was a load off their mind," he said. "Back
then no one thought the lottery was ever going to be so successful. It's
unlikely
that any government would do it today."
Barry H
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