Mr. Jesús Caro Adanero:

Good morning. First of all, I congratulate all the members of the committee for all the work they have been conducting. Disability is a fundamental issue. It is important we give our best efforts to improving the quality of life of persons with disabilities. Here in Spain we have made great progress in the past 62 years. I say 62 years because I am a person with disabilities myself and for 62 years I have not had full vision, so I know what I am talking about. These days, thanks to new legislation, children with vision problems are fully integrated within the education system.

Thanks to new legislation, children with vision problems are fully integrated within the education system. I wish that had been my experience.

We are fully convinced by the Spanish Government that the new education law has two main objectives. The first is integrating all people with disabilities and the second is raising awareness in the rest of students. Both of these are of fundamental importance. Those of us who have felt what it is to have a disability are fully aware of how hard it is to live in society. It is hard when somebody has a disability and they must hide it when looking for employment, for example.

When I was 20, I joined Telefónica, a very big corporation in Spain, after passing an exam. It was the achievement of a great goal. After three months of training, I went to a doctor for a physical exam, and the decision was made that due to my visual disability, I could not work with the company. I have been in the army but I could not work with that company because of my sight. It is important to learn to fight and all people with disabilities have a special and very important gift that lets us make a greater effort to become a better person.

I founded a company when I was 30. I am the general secretary of a province, Ávila, and I am a Senator in Spain. It is an honour for me to be here to testify at this committee discussing disabilities. We are all working to try to improve the awareness in society. It is very important we all work together.

We have done much in Spain with committed organisations and important associations. Some of them are local and some are national. We have the Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles, ONCE, in Spain, for visually disabled people and those with other physical disabilities. It is mainly focused on visual disability. For many years these organisations have guided us, raised awareness and recognition and improved access to the labour market. It is important for people with a disability to be able to work to get recognition. At the beginning, I stated it was important to raise awareness for people when they are children and it is even more important when those people must access the labour market. It is important that there should be no limitations. As I need to be brief, I cannot go into detail.