What Did London 2012 Mean for the Paralympics and the Lives of People with Disabilities?

<p dir="ltr">Proforma for chapter in 'Events in Society' which explores the social impact and sociological implications of designing, planning, and delivering cultural events like the Edinburgh Fringe Festival; sporting events like the Olympic and Paralympic Games and FIFA.World Cup.</p><p dir="ltr">For London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games planners, a central aim was that this mega-event would change the way non-disabled people – and society at large – see disabled people in the long-term. Prominent political figures including Tony Blair, Ken Livingstone and the chairman of the London Organising Committee, Sebastian Coe, placed diversity and inclusion at the heart of the London legacy plans (DCMS, 2011). They contended that the magic of hosting is in the ability of such events to tackle endemic social problems (Duignan, 2021). </p>