Games artistic directors reveal details about the event, including the title and the number of performers London’s Paralympics opening ceremony will be called Enlightenment and will feature disabled performers, including soldiers, who are learning circus skills to help them perform aerial work on a 35 metre-high rig. A few details of the ceremony, due to take place on 29 August, were disclosed at a briefing on Wednesday.
Geoff Holt was prevented from boarding a train by a guard who told him that his electric wheelchair would damage the floor The first quadriplegic sailor to cross the Atlantic solo has described his anger at being prevented from boarding a train by a guard who told him that his electric wheelchair would damage the floor. Geoff Holt, 45, told how he was left with “a sense of genuine rage” following the incident on the platform beside an Isle of Wight train, where he said that the guard suggested that he was a liar and cut his leg when he eventually threw down a ramp for him to board. The unnamed guard has now been suspended pending an investigation into the incident involving the Island Line’s three-minute Ryde Pier to Ryde Esplanade service, according to its operators Stagecoach Group .
In a nation that does self-worthlessness so effectively, a successful Olympics would be utterly disconcerting By now it should be perfectly clear that the worst possible outcome for the London Olympics is their passing off as the great success they increasingly threaten to be. For if the Olympics work then how will we explain the rest of British national life – which doesn’t – let alone begin to cope with it after a taste of honey
In a nation that does self-worthlessness so effectively, a successful Olympics would be utterly disconcerting By now it should be perfectly clear that the worst possible outcome for the London Olympics is their passing off as the great success they increasingly threaten to be. For if the Olympics work then how will we explain the rest of British national life – which doesn’t – let alone begin to cope with it after a taste of honey? To our fragile sense of self-worthlessness, there really is nothing more dangerous than success.
Baroness Grey-Thompson, Britain’s most decorated paralympian, talks to disability campaigner Nicky Clark about growing up with spina bifida, her sporting career and her new role in the House of Lords Tanni Grey-Thompson Literally when mum and dad were told I had spina bifida, mum went “right, OK, will she ever be able to have kids?” Why on earth she asked that question no one has any [idea] and the sort of went “yes, I suppose”. And she went, “oh right, OK” and took me home.
With 220 days to go until the start of the Paralympic Games in London a major step was taken last night when the GB wheelchair basketball teams discovered their opposition for the pool stages of the tournament. The IWBF Paralympic Draw took place at the Waterside Theatre in Aylesbury, with GB men’s captain Simon Munn and GB women’s player Amy Conroy [...]
The Paralympic Torch Relay commenced in fine style in October supported by Paralympians Libby and James Clegg, Ade Adepitan and Richard Whitehead as well as Bank of Scotland. To mark the launch of its Paralympic Torch Relay nomination campaign, Bank of Scotland has commissioned a striking image (right) featuring Scottish Paralympic hopeful and local hero [...]
I asked on Twitter for some tips about arts projects by, for and involving people with disabilities. Here are some that didn’t make my piece Today’s G2 has a large preview of next year’s arts events . I wrote a short piece for it about the many exciting-sounding arts events for, by and involving people with disabilities
Faced with the choice of the finish of the Olympic marathon or the goalball event for blind athletes, where will sports editors send their reporters? Disability politics is strewn with pratfalls, as I know to my cost. One writer’s heartwarming story is another’s patronising pat on the head
Disabled people are excited about the Paralympics in 2012. But they would rather have money to eat than watch a couple of ceremonies The results of a recent survey by disability charity Scope suggested that many disabled people think that the Paralympic Games are a waste of money. When I first read this, I was more than a little surprised
