adam&eveDDB is supporting the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and multiple international organisations to launch a decade-long global campaign that sets out to become the world’s biggest ever human rights movement for the world’s 1.2 billion persons with disabilities.

The movement, #WeThe15, takes its name from the 15% of the global population who have a disability: the world’s largest marginalised group forgotten by the inclusivity agenda. For these 1.2 billion people, access to basic human rights such as healthcare, education and employment, are at best limited and at worst non-existent, making it harder for people with disabilities to live, work, thrive or even survive.

Spearheaded by the IPC and International Disability Alliance, #WeThe15 sees the largest-ever coalition of organisations unite behind this cause – 20 in total, including UN Human Rights, UNESCO, Special Olympics, and The Valuable 500 – with the goal of putting people with disabilities at the heart of the inclusivity agenda.

The campaign symbol, which will be worn as temporary tattoos by Paralympians throughout the Games, is a clear visual representation of what the percentage actually looks like. It was developed by design agency Pentagram.

A vibrant shade of purple was chosen for the identity as this represents the international colour of disability. To honour this, a total of 125 iconic global landmarks across 6 continents – from Tokyo’s Skytree to Niagara Falls – will be illuminated in purple light on 19 August when the campaign launches.

Dozens of organisations and brands, including Allianz, Coca Cola, Facebook, Twitter, Intel, BP, Visa and many more, will show their support by sharing bespoke content, updated logos, and their plans for progressing the inclusivity agenda.

The campaign launch film will go live on 19 August and be screened by multiple broadcasters around the world including Channel 4 and NBC during the Paralympic Games. The film will also be broadcast live to an audience of over 250 million worldwide during the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony.

The film, created by Pulse Films and director Sam Pilling, sets out to shift the narrative around people with disabilities away from one in which they are either stereotyped as objects of pity, or put on a pedestal, in order to emphasise that disability is not an “other” – it is humanity. It opens with real quotes that show the way people with disabilities are framed by even the well-meaning before a cast of people with disabilities challenge viewers to recognise them not through those stereotypes, but as ordinary people who demand true inclusion. Filmed in Bogota, Bangkok, London, Johannesburg, Milan and Manila, the film features nearly 40 persons with disabilities assembled in partnership with disabled talent agency and consultancy C Talent.