WeThe15, Leveraging Sport to Advance Disability Rights and Sustainable Development

Catherine Carty, Daniel Mont, Daniel Sebastian Restrepo and Juan Pablo Salazar
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Catherine Carty: UNESCO Chair on Transforming the Lives of People with Disabilities through Physical Education, Sport, Fitness and Recreation, Munster Technological University, V92 HD4V Tralee, Kerry, Ireland
Daniel Mont: Center for Inclusive Policy, Washington, DC 20005, USA
Daniel Sebastian Restrepo: Programa de Acción por la Igualdad y la Inclusión Social, Universidad de los Andes, Merida 5101, Venezuela
Juan Pablo Salazar: International Paralympic Committee, 53113 Bonn, Germany

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 21, 1-20

Abstract: #WeThe15 launched at the Tokyo Paralympic Games. It aims to mobilize global partners to level the playing field for the 15% of the global population living with disabilities. This paper examines how current policy, human rights and development objectives seek this inclusive change. It explores how sport and the media, both popular components of culture globally, are vehicles for impacting positive change for individuals and society. Researchers conducted analyses of mainstream media coverage across the US, UK, Latin America, and the Caribbean (LAC) of the 2016 Summer Paralympics. This was taken as a proxy to popular culture or public perception of disability. Results found considerable use of inspiration porn and non-inclusive language across media outlets. The US media led in raising awareness and promoting a cultural shift. Focus groups in Latin America examined athletes’ use of their platforms to identify and overcome barriers and promote disability rights. Athletes reported access barriers to sport across infrastructure, culture, school, environment, and sport itself. They are willing to use their voice to advance inclusion. While work is needed, para-sport has potential in the policy context and culturally significant media platforms to promote human rights and sustainable development for all people with disabilities.

Keywords: WeThe15; disability; sport; para-sport; media; human rights; culture; sustainable development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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