London Paralympic Games

Photo: Dominic Lipinski /PA Wire

The Paralympic flag, officially called the Agitos (Latin for ‘I move’), was raised over Downing Street yesterday and the Prime Minister wished the ParalympicsGB team good luck in the Games which are due to start on 29 August 2012. 

The Paralympic Games began in Britain following an attempt by a neurologist Professor Sir Ludwig Guttmann, to make well the war veterans in his care at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire. People with spinal cord injuries were given little hope of living more than a year and were expected to be hidden away from society before Sir Ludwig’s revolutionary ideas. He came up with the pioneering idea of using sport as a key part of rehabilitation and in 1948 a competition for 16 paralysed men and women was organised to coincide with the opening ceremony of the London 1948 Olympic Games. The first competitive sport was archery.

It was welcomed with a wonderful party atmosphere and four years later the Netherlands joined the event, which created the first international sports competition for the disabled. Four years later the first international sporting event for the disabled was held in Italy and since then have continued every four years.

The 2012 Paralympic Games are already breaking records with the number of tickets already sold and more countries and athletes than ever before. 

The Games open on Wednesday 29th August, when we can look forward to another memorable show. This time the Artistic Directors Jenny Sealey and Bradley Hemmings, have planned a show named ‘Enlightenment’. This promises to highlight how people have transformed society through struggles for freedom, democracy and equality and starts with a fly-past from Aerobility, a British charity that trains disabled people to become pilots. It has been rumoured that Professor Stephen Hawkins may be taking part in the ceremony, although it’s not known whether this will be in person or on film.

We are all looking forward to welcoming these brave and courageous people, who have overcome a disability to achieve their goal and hope this will further the understanding of disabled people around the world. It was less than thirty years ago that society did not want to see disabilities on TV.