Pupils from across Manchester and the North West are taking centre stage in a brand new campaign video for Play Unified, a global charitable initiative breaking down barriers for young people with intellectual (learning) disabilities.
Watch the Video HERE
Play Unified is a Special Olympics Great Britain campaign, delivered in partnership with the Youth Sport Trust, funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and jointly administered by DCMS and Sport England. It forms part of a worldwide Special Olympics movement to change perceptions of and attitudes towards people with intellectual disabilities – both on and off the pitch.
The video was created at regional Play Unified summits at Old Trafford in Manchester and Gilwell Park in London, as well as in schools across Liverpool and Reading.
Pupils from Melland High School in Manchester were some of those in attendance at the Play Unified summit held at Old Trafford in Manchester earlier this year – where part of the video was filmed.
It centres around the core principle of Play Unified – that training and playing together is a quick path to understanding, acceptance and friendship.
Former Paralympic swimmer Kate Grey was the MC at all of this year’s Play Unified summits, and also stars in the new campaign video. She comments: “It was excellent to see young people engaging with sport, leadership skills, and most importantly, each other throughout the Play Unified summits.
“The new campaign video shows the spirit of camaraderie and friendships that are already being forged through Play Unified – I look forward to seeing this spread throughout schools and communities as the programme reaches across the UK.”
With young people aged 14-25 at its core, Play Unified will be rolled out in 200 schools nationwide over the next two years, involving more than 18,000 young people.
The campaign seeks to empower young people with and without intellectual disabilities to become leaders in their schools, creating positive change and providing more opportunities for young people to take part in sport.
Ultimately, Play Unified aims to end intolerance towards people with intellectual disabilities, creating the ‘Unified Generation’.
Karen Wallin, CEO of Special Olympics Great Britain said: “Play Unified is a global Special Olympics campaign aimed at breaking down the barriers and misconceptions towards people with intellectual disabilities. Through this campaign we hope to inspire attitudes that lead to activity with our Special Olympics athletes rather than an approach of doing things FOR our athletes. People with intellectual disabilities say they want to be included as equals in society. The Unified Generation will lead our movement and will do so by simply playing unified.”
Victoria Wells, Programme Lead for Play Unified at the Youth Sport Trust, adds: “This campaign is bold in its ambition to ensure a level playing field for all young people to have the chance to play sport. We are equipping young people to become ambassadors for inclusion and are already seeing a great impact in schools and communities.”
“The response has been overwhelming and it’s been wonderful to see how quickly and wholeheartedly schools have embraced the vision of the campaign. We’re absolutely delighted with the way in which young people have come together and proud to be delivering this campaign alongside Special Olympics Great Britain.”
The Play Unified campaign provides a unique opportunity to inspire and empower young people with and without disabilities to become leaders in their schools, creating positive change and developing more opportunities for young people to take part in sport. We at the Youth Sport Trust are proud to be delivering this campaign alongside Special Olympics Great Britain.”
