In his latest blog Steve Brown talks about how people's perception of disability have changed after the Paralympics.
Where can I start when it comes to telling you all about my Paralympic experience? It was fantastic! The whole build-up and journey to get there, the opening ceremony, the music, fireworks and the excitement from it all- you instantly realise that all the sacrifices and training was worth it.
As for my performance on the court, I was quite happy with myself and I was very happy with the team. I know they worked as hard as they could, their attitudes and the way that they played was fantastic.
There is nothing that I would change in the way that the team performed. All I could wish for, for their sakes and the supporters that we had finished higher than fifth. We went in ranked fifth, and we came out ranked fifth so there was nothing lost but we hoped for a medal. The competition was just too tough for us in the end.
Back to training
After the Games I had a couple of weeks off and I have been really busy going into schools to talk to children about my Paralympic experience. I have also really enjoyed the reception I've had from my local town. I managed to fit in a holiday too so I am just starting to get back into training now!
I have been lucky enough to have done lots of appearances through the
Sky Sports Scholarships scheme and the
Sky Sports 'Living for Sport' programme, which have enabled me to share my story with so many people. I am one of the athlete mentors for that and it has been a pleasure going into schools and telling the children about what I've been up to. It is just fantastic to hear them so excited to hear my story, it is a pleasure to be inspiring up-and-coming athletes.
The reception from the children has been so positive; it's fantastic to see them so engaged.
Changing perception
With the issue of a sporting legacy being spoken about so much now following the Games, I think people's perception of disability has changed as a result of people watching the sport.
When you look at the sport as a whole, when one disabled person knocks another disabled person out of their wheelchair, and you have 12,000 people in the stadium jumping up, screaming and enjoying it, you see that they are not seeing the disability, they are seeing the sport.
It is nice seeing the change in people's attitudes towards disability and maybe changing their opinion of what people with disabilities are capable of.
As we look forward now, the next big competition we've got are the Europeans towards the end of next year so that is what we will be focusing on now. We also have our Paralympics debrief in a couple of weeks so on the back of that we will be looking to the future and working on improving ourselves as a team.
I would just like to thank, as well as Sky Sports for all their support, but the general public for being so involved. It is a pleasure to have been involved with something so great.
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