WeThe15: ITF marks launch of movement for persons with disabilities

The International Tennis Federation today celebrates the launch of WeThe15, a global movement uniting to change attitudes and create more opportunities for the world’s 1.2 billion persons with disabilities, who represent 15% of the global population.

WeThe15 brings together a coalition of organisations from sport, human rights, policy, communications, business, art, and entertainment with the shared aim of ending discrimination and transforming the lives of persons with disabilities, ensuring they can be visible and active members of an inclusive society.

Launching on the eve of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, WeThe15 plans to initiate change over the next decade by bringing together. The campaign has been led by International Paralympic Committee, International Disability Alliance, UN Human Rights, UNESCO, and UNAOC amongst others.

With Covid-19 disproportionately impacting persons with disabilities, and as the world sets out to build back better following the pandemic, WeThe15’s goal is to align global society with the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, ensuring we do not leave 1.2 billion people behind.

WeThe15 also marks the first collaborative campaign between the IPC, Special Olympics, Invictus Games and International Committee of Sports for the Deaf. The four organisations will use the profile of their international sporting events and athlete communities to further raise awareness and understanding of the issues facing persons with disabilities around the world.

By building greater knowledge of the barriers and discrimination persons with disabilities face on a daily basis at all levels of society, WeThe15 will break down these barriers so all persons with disabilities can fulfil their potential and be active and visible members of an inclusive society.

Like race, gender and sexual orientation, this is a movement all persons with disabilities can rally behind: a global movement that is publicly campaigning for disability visibility, inclusion and accessibility.

The objectives of WeThe15 include:

• Putting persons with disabilities at the heart of the diversity and inclusion agenda
• Implementing a range of activities targeting governments, businesses and the public over the next decade to drive social inclusion for persons with disabilities
• Breaking down societal and systemic barriers that prevent persons with disabilities from fulfilling their potential and being active members of society
• Ensuring greater awareness, visibility and representation of persons with disabilities
• Providing education on the social model of disability to dispel global societal and cultural misconceptions, and explain that disability is created by societal and systemic barriers rather than an individual’s impairment
• Promoting the role of assistive technology as a vehicle to driving social inclusion

WeThe15 is sport’s biggest ever human rights movement to end discrimination, aiming to break down the barriers that keep us apart. To find out more, click or tap here.