Finally, it is time for Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and around 4,400 athletes from all over the world will vie for glory and medals.

Fans will have the opportunity to watch incredible gestures of athleticism and sportsmanship, an enduring testament of endurance, perseverance and spirit of competition.

Will the Games also enable a new conversation about the rights of persons with disabilities especially in contexts where such rights are continuously overlooked and violated?

Sports can be a powerful tool not only to elevate athletes to personal greatness but also to create a new level of awareness on key societal issues.

Unfortunately, the way many societies around the world continue to discriminate against persons living with disabilities represents one of the less visible, less recognized and less talked about tragedies plaguing the world.

With the headlines over the catastrophic effects of climate change rightly dominating our attention, we are less inclined to think that persons with physical, developmental and psychosocial disabilities are among those who are going to pay the worst consequences stemming from this crisis.

This was also one of the key messages of World Humanitarian Day that was celebrated on Aug. 19 because with the world leaders seemingly unable to step up to the biggest challenge faced by humanity in modern history, we are at risk of furthering leaving behind those who got entrapped in a perpetual cycle of exclusion, vulnerability and deprivation.

Popular

Bellingham heroics edge England past Norway

Govt aims for year-end launch of tax-friendly financial center

Militarizing civilian space