# WeThe15, from the Colosseum to Milan Cortina 2026: Italy turns purple for the rights of disabled people

At dusk, the Colosseum, one of the most important archaeological sites in our country and in the world, lit up with purple, the international color of disability, to celebrate the launch of # WeThe15, the campaign promoted by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and by the International Disability Alliance (IDA) to focus attention on the rights of people with disabilities, about 1.2 billion citizens, equal to 15% of the world population.

At the same time, the same color embellished the territories that will be the protagonists of the 2026 Winter Games: Palazzo Lombardia and Palazzo Pirelli (headquarters of the Lombardy Region), Palazzo Marino (headquarters of the Municipality of Milan), the Allianz Tower of Milan (headquarters of the Milano Cortina 2026 Foundation) and the Palazzo del Municipio of Cortina d’Ampezzo.

An initiative that saw over 115 of the most iconic sites in the world light up including the Sky tree and Rainbow Bridge in Tokyo, Geneva’s Jet d’Eau, Ostankino Tower and Luzhniki Stadium (which was the scene of the 200 d gold of Pietro Mennea at the 1980 Olympics and which from yesterday until 29 August hosts the Beach Soccer World Cup) in Moscow, the London Eye in London and Niagara Falls between Canada and the United States.

The # WeThe15 initiative, launched 5 days after the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, aims to end discrimination against people with disabilities and to act as a global movement promoting inclusion and breaking down barriers physical and cultural.

This is the comment by Luca Pancalli, President of the Italian Paralympic Committee: “We strongly wanted to support and promote this international campaign conceived by the IPC in our country, which aims to focus attention on the citizenship rights of people with disabilities all over the world. . And it is important that this happens a few days before the start of the Paralympics which represent the engine of a cultural revolution aimed at changing the perception of disability in the world. We are happy that the Milano Cortina Foundation, various local administrations and a partner of the International Paralympic Committee such as Allianz, have wished to embrace this cause. Together we can give even more strength to this important cultural battle with the hope that the achievements of Paralympic athletes can be a source of inspiration for many girls and boys with disabilities ».