Wheels of Change

 

Monday 10 September 2012 08:28 BST
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David Weir of Great Britain in the Mens T54 Marathon near the London eye. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Image)
David Weir of Great Britain in the Mens T54 Marathon near the London eye. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Image) (Getty Images)

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After a spectacular closing ceremony, the flame last night went out on the Paralympic Games and an unforgettable summer of British sport. But Peter Stanford, writing in the Telegraph, hopes that change in this country's attitudes to disabled people will far outlive 2012.

Stanford's mother was a wheelchair user and his childhood was "blighted" by taunts and misplaced pity. The sight of these Paralympians , however, has dissolved the "artificial boundaries between non-disabled and disabled people" that gave rise to such attitudes.

The true test of legacy will be in the workplace. There is still some way to go until employers do not instinctively choose the job candidate who can walk over one who cannot. But anyone on an interview board who has marvelled at Simmonds, Pistorius or Peacock will now think twice before they dismiss the "disabled candidate".

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