WeThe15 - A Global Campaign to End Disability Discrimination

August 27, 2021 

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games kicked off August 24 featuring more than 4500 athletes competing in 539 events across 22 sports. As part of the world's biggest parasports event, the WeThe15 campaign launched to advocate for an end to discrimination and to act as a global movement towards disability visibility, accessibility and inclusion.

The genesis of WeThe15 came from a recognition that while strides have been made in representation, disabled people are still greatly marginalized. Sarah Benson, strategy director for the campaign, stated: “A lot of comparisons and parallels were getting drawn to the Black Lives Matter movement and, to some extent, Extinction Rebellion. That was the size of their ambition and they’re absolutely right that that should happen.”

As a result, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and the World Health Organization worked with Adam & Eve DDB on a 10-year-long campaign to redress that imbalance. The plan is to initiate change over the next decade by bringing together the biggest coalition ever of international organizations from the world of sport, human rights, policy, communications, business, arts and entertainment. At the core is the message that without better representation in front of and behind cameras, no progress will be made.

WeThe15 aspires to be the biggest ever human rights movement to represent the world’s 1.2 billion people with disabilities. The '15' in the campaign refers to the disabled population representing 15 per cent of the global population. Due to the size and planned length of the campaign, organizations are taking part in various capacities, including the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Disability Foundation and the Invictus, Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

The IPC, Special Olympics, Invictus Games Foundation and the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (Deaflympics) have teamed up to use the profile of their international sport events and athlete communities to further raise awareness and understanding of the issues facing people with disabilities around the globe.

Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex, Patron of the Invictus Games Foundation said, “One of the reasons why I was inspired to create the Invictus Games was to help destigmatise physical and invisible injuries and give the men and women who have experienced them a platform to show the world that they and we can accomplish anything, when we put our mind to it. Everybody at the Invictus Games Foundation is honored to join the WeThe15 campaign and believe in its mission to inspire meaningful change in communities around the world.” 

Wethe15 is aligned with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which aim to change attitudes and create more opportunities by: 

• Implementing a range of activities targeting governments, businesses and the public to drive social inclusion for persons with disabilities 
• Breaking down societal and systemic barriers that are preventing persons with disabilities from fulfilling their potential and being active members of society
• Ensuring greater awareness, visibility and representation of persons with disabilities
• Promoting the role of assistive technology as a vehicle to driving social inclusion 

IPC President Andrew Parsons said: “WeThe15 aspires to be the biggest ever human rights movement for persons with disabilities and aims to put disability right at the heart of the inclusion agenda, alongside ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation.” 

“These sports events add great value to the campaign and underline the hugely positive impact sport can have on society. I strongly believe WeThe15 could be a real game-changer for persons with disabilities.” 

Joining the sport organisations in this decade of action are International Disability Alliance, UN Human Rights, UNESCO, the UN SDG Action Campaign, the European Commission, The Valuable 500, Global Citizen, Global Disability Innovation Hub, the UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), International Disability and Development Consortium, C-Talent, Global Goals Advisory, ATscale – the Global Partnership for Assistive Technology, Zero Project, and the Global Alliance of Assistive Technology Organisations (GAATO). 

On August 19, the campaign's film aired in 60 countries and in the evening, 125 iconic landmarks, spanning several countries lit up in purple in celebration. In addition, the film played during the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony with an accompanying digital media campaign.

Despite the 2030 target and acknowledgment, it will take a while to change public perception of disabilities, Benson says the goal of launching alongside the Paralympics is to create a “little bit of fomo”. She says the strategy is designed to impart that message over time, and while the Paralympics act as the starting gun for the campaign, it will eventually morph over time into more of a “relay” as the message continues.