Inclusiveness for disability

TOKYO • A global campaign aimed at ending discrimination towards the world's 1.2 billion people with disabilities kicked off yesterday, spearheaded by Paralympic chiefs and backed by a broad group of international organisations.

The campaign, called WeThe15, aims to be "the biggest ever human rights movement", representing the 15 per cent of the world's population estimated by the United Nations (UN) to have a disability.

Backed by corporate muscle and bringing together organisations from the worlds of sport, human rights, policy, and arts and entertainment, the launch comes less than a week before the Tokyo Paralympics open on Tuesday.

"We believe that it's really going to be a game-changer," said International Paralympic Committee (IPC) head Andrew Parsons.

"By uniting several leading international organisations and the world's 1.2 billion persons with disabilities behind one common movement, we will make a tangible and well-overdue difference for the planet's largest marginalised group.

"Sport and events such as the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games are hugely powerful vehicles to engage global audiences.

"And by partnering with Special Olympics, Invictus Games, and Deaflympics, there will be at least one major international sports event for persons with disabilities to showcase WeThe15 each year between now and 2030."

The campaign aims to emulate other human rights movements such as Black Lives Matter and #MeToo.

More than 125 landmarks around the world - from New York's Empire State Building to Rome's Colosseum - were lit up in purple yesterday to mark the launch.

"We want to put disability at the heart of the inclusion agenda," said IPC chief brand and communications officer Craig Spence.

"There has been so much progress in recent years in terms of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation. But disability has been forgotten about, despite the fact that it intersects those three areas."

Social media companies are also on board, and celebrities from former football star David Beckham to chat show queen Oprah Winfrey have thrown their weight behind the campaign.

Prince Harry's Invictus Games Foundation is also involved.

WeThe15 is planned to run for a decade, with each year focusing on a different aspect of discrimination faced by people with disabilities, including in employment and education.

According to the IPC, 85 per cent of disabled people around the world live in poverty, about 50 per cent are unemployed and 75 per cent of countries have no laws protecting them.

The IPC expects billions to watch the Tokyo Paralympics, boosted by free-to-air coverage of the event provided to sub-Saharan African countries.

Spence added that the 2012 London Paralympics - where members of the public snapped up 2.78 million tickets - changed "one in three attitudes towards disability" in Britain.

He also said research showed that there were one million more people with disabilities in jobs six years after the Games than there were before.

"Clearly the Paralympics had an influence on that," he said.

"That probably gave us the encouragement to deliver this campaign because we were able to measure the impact that the Paralympic Games have on changing attitudes towards disability and transforming society."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE