Watching the build-up to The Paralympic Games has been exciting; seeing disability covered by the media in a positive way and the event embraced by the public.
Given the levels of attention and excitement in the country over the Olympic Games, the Paralympics could easily have been overlooked. Instead it appears to have been embraced with as much enthusiasm as the Olympics. But, with all this, I can't help but wonder what The Games' lasting legacy will be?
In many ways there has already been a focus on equality between the Olympic and Paralympic Games: from the success of Im Dong-hyun (who broke an archery world record despite being registered blind) and Oscar Pistorius (the first double amputee to compete as a track athlete) in the Olympic Games; through to the agreement by Royal Mail to give all Team GB Paralympic gold medal winners the same stamp-and-postbox treatment that their able-bodied peers received.
But why stop there? Why wouldn't we want to see this equality of treatment continued long after the last gold medal has been won and outside of the Olympic Stadium? What a legacy that would be; for these Games to provide a turning point where people with disabilities are recognised as having an equal contribution to make to society at local, national and international levels.
It is this legacy ideal that is at the heart of a short film made by Sightsavers. Relay4Equality sees a selection of athletes from across the globe talking about all the things they are capable of doing - from basic tasks familiar to all who have a family to provide for - to winning medals, which most of us can't. Several of the athletes, including Ben Quilter, world champion in visually impaired judo, talk about their disability in positive terms, as something which has provided additional motivation even outside their athletic abilities.
Today over a billion people worldwide have a disability and 80 per cent of people with a disability are living in developing countries, where their exclusion leads to a cycle of poverty and inequality. In the next few years we have an opportunity to change this.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - which aim to halve global poverty and increase access to education and health, for the world's poorest people - expire in 2015, and a global conversation has already begun to decide what they should be replaced with. It's vital that, unlike last time, disabled people have an equal say in this discussion. If the voices of blind, disabled, and other marginalised people are listened to, then there's a good chance that we can come up with a development framework that will treat everyone equally and will support disabled people to contribute to their countries' success - continuing in the same vein as the Paralympics.
However don't take it from me - listen to Great Britain's (GB) five-a-side blind football team captain, Dave Clarke, world champion judoist, Ben Quilter, Jamaica's Sylvia Grant (javelin), Alphanso Cunningham (javelin and discus); Ghana's Raphael Botsyo Anita Fordjour (both wheel chair track athletes), Alem Mumuni (paracyclist); and Uganda's Akullo Christine (visually impaired 100 metre sprinter) by watching the film at www.sightsavers.org/relay4equality.
And then pass it on to help us relay the message as far as we can.