Has the Paralympic flame sputtered out?  The best Paralympic
legacy would be to empower disabled people to participate in a
society that respects difference London Olympic Games - Athletes
Victory Parade 'How do we preserve the spirit of the Games?'
Paralympic swimming gold medallist Ellie Simmonds at the London
2012 victory parade. Photograph: Paul Gilham/PA  Towards the end
of the London Paralympics, in which I had participated with the
ParalympicsGB blind football team, I sent the following tweet:
"The ephemeral beauty of the #Paralympics hangs in the air over
London like a gossamer cathedral. Can we preserve its delicate
grace, Britain?" A month after leaving the utopia of the
Paralympic village behind me, that question still gnaws at my
mind. I returned to my home town full of hope that this might be
the start of something, not the end.  Some things have indeed
changed. There is now a lot of talk about "legacy", about
"creating more grassroots opportunities". And a lot of good
technical work is going on