And they all go on long holidays to the Greek island of Zakynthos.
Greece's island of the 'blind' revealed Nick Squires Published: April 30, 2012 - 6:52AM http://www.smh.com.au/action/printArticle?id=3256759
EVEN by the extravagant standards of Greek corruption, the scam uncovered by Stelios Bozikis is so brazen it is hard to credit.
Nearly 600 people on the Ionian island of Zakynthos - where Mr Bozikis was recently elected mayor - had themselves falsely declared blind to obtain state benefits.
They included taxi drivers, shopkeepers and restaurant owners. ''Out of 650 registered blind people on the island, we estimate that at least 600 are fraudulent claims,'' the mayor said. That represents nearly 2 per cent of the island's population of 35,000 - nearly 10 times the average rate of blindness in Europe.
The claimants were receiving monthly payments of at least €350 ($A442). Those who supposedly needed carers received more.
Known to the Venetians during the heyday of their trading empire as ''the flower of the Levant'', Zakynthos is now mocked as ''the island of the blind'' by the media.
Fraudulent benefit claims, including bogus cases of leprosy, cost Greece €111 million last year, according to the government. Nearly one in six disability allowances were found to be fraudulent.
That’s Greece. This is about the United States. Different places
BTW, there are plenty of people in the USA who are blind who also work hard at being shopkeepers and restaurant owners.