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Why Pledge

Spread the Word is founded on an audacious belief, a simple observation, and an urgent goal.

  • Our belief is that the world would be better if all people were valued, respected, embraced, included. Included in the games we play and the friends we make. Included in our schools, our workplaces, and our communities.
  • Our observation is that despite the best efforts of many, groups around the world remain left out. One of these groups is people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, a group made of more than 200 million people, representing every country, belief system, sexual orientation, gender expression, race, and ethnicity.
  • Our goal is to disrupt this cycle of isolation and exclusion with grassroots action for inclusion.

You can take action today to make your school, your workplace, your community, and your world more inclusive. Seek out someone who has been left out, isolated, or bullied. Sit with them. Welcome them. Be a friend. Be a teammate. The actions that you take for inclusion are unique to you, but they contribute to a shared global goal. Our individual actions can combine to create a new and inclusive world. Indeed, they are the only thing that can.

Make your pledge for inclusion today. And spread the word!

Three girls sitting around a young man in a wheel chair. One girl has on a Spread the Word Inclusion t-shirt.
Co-founder of Spread the Word, Soeren Palumbo, has a few words to share about the growth of the new campaign.