TThe Paris Paralympics are fast approaching. Apart from the London Games, they will be the first to be held in Europe in 20 years. I am very excited about them. I am also intrigued because I believe they will be an important indicator of the current state of the Paralympic Movement and a test of the perception of parasport and disability issues in general.
I think London 2012 was still a bit of an anomaly because of what Seb Coe broadcast on LoCog and Channel 4. There was a lot of clever advertising, taking advantage of the fact that Brits love a bit of cheeky humour. It pushed aside the taboos, asked what can we say about disability? What should we carefully avoid? and allowed disabled people to speak out and give their perspective. One perspective that people didn't understand before is the fact that we, as disabled people, make fun of each other. We gave C4 permission to follow it. I think this approach elevated the London Paralympics. Since then, there has been no opportunity to really test the acceptance or popularity of disability sport in Europe.
So I'm not going to focus only on the number of people who will come to watch in Paris. It depends a lot on how well the French have prepared to promote the Paralympics and how creatively they have tried to get the message out. For me it's more about the passion, understanding and acceptance shown by the French people during and after the Olympics. Compared to the Olympics, we need to strive for a bigger legacy, because disabled people are much further behind in society.
The 2012 Superhuman campaign was cool, bold and nerve-wracking. We created a hero and managed to redefine what the British public understands as a role model. This year I became Chancellor of Birmingham City University, which is incredible and wouldn't have happened any other year than 2012. I'm interested to see if the French can leverage something similar – if they really understand the power of involving a disabled hero.
It's fair to say that since 2012, those in the Paralympic Movement have been wondering where to go next. I realized from messages I received on social media and from disabled people who stopped me on the street that they wanted the Olympics to create social change. They said: “Paralympians are rightly worshipped, but for ordinary disabled people like us, nothing has changed. We are still scapegoated and exploited. We are still targeted and discriminated against, and our standard of living has not improved, it has actually regressed.”
Should the Paralympics have a responsibility to address social issues? I think they should, but I worry that it's not for everyone. I don't want to push all Paralympic athletes to “go out there and try to be political.” Not everyone is born for that.
Unfortunately, the Paralympics cannot address social issues directly. They can address them indirectly by empowering people like me, and giving other Paralympians a platform and a voice, because there is now a privileged few people who are in a position to have the power to effect change. But this is a challenge that is unique to the Paralympics. The Olympics are not tasked with that challenge.
In Paris, we will see progress because the standard of achievement in sport will be higher than it has ever been before. Before the Games I was looking at statistics, and one of the people I looked at is Aled Davis, the world record holder in the F42 shot put. This is his third Paralympics, and if you look at the distance he went when he started and now, I think he's gained a metre, which is huge. It's amazing to see such an improvement in performance, and it's emblematic of how far Paralympic sport has developed.
When Aled started competing in 2012 he was a big deal. He won a bronze medal in the shot put because he had natural talent. Now you wouldn't recognise his physique. He has completely transformed and it's all thanks to sports science, the resources, the funding and everything that has come into Paralympic sport.
Ironically, the progress on the playing field only highlights the lack of change in the everyday lives of people with disabilities. But over the next two weeks, we'll see extraordinary performances everywhere: on the track, in the pool, on the basketball court. For those of you without disabilities, I urge you to focus on the times and distances and forget about the disability. Ask yourself: If I were doing this, how would I compare?