Advocates of World Cerebral Palsy Day narrowed down six areas that society needs to work toward in social awareness: Public awareness — This is simply understanding what cerebral palsy is and what it isn’t. We would like people to release the stigma attached to those who have it, and that they be accepted as friends, co-workers, partners, in relationships, parents and full citizens. Civil rights — These rights should be granted to those who have cerebral palsy, globally. Governments need to not only see people as citizens, but also not take rights away because of the disability. For example, when people are married, often basic healthcare and personal assistants are taken away based on income. Medical and therapeutic — The best medical and therapeutic information needs to be provided to medical professionals, in order to help those who have cerebral palsy. Quality of life — This goes beyond basic human needs. Quality of life must bring people friendship, social interactions, love, and the chance to enjoy life to the best of their capabilities. Education — To give all educators the knowledge and support to be able to teach children with cerebral palsy with respect and the tools that they need for a bright future. Contribution — That each person with cerebral palsy has a right to contribute to society through employment as well as artistically, financially, politically, and socially. By not allowing this to happen, society is missing out on a large portion of human input.

It’s an often forgotten fact of Paralympic life that wheelchairs will crash into each other, running blades will hammer into the athletics track and buckle, and ankle braces will wear away. Breakages, and lots of them, happen at the Paralympic Games – and they need fixing quickly. But Paralympians have no need to fear. Inside the athlete’s village is a safety net, an emergency repairs centre for all they need to get them back up and operational if screws come loose, or some extra welding is required. It’s like the pit lane in Formula 1, but the difference is in Formula 1 it’s just “tyres and gas”, says Anna Parisi, director of communications at the centre. Here, the technicians have to be extremely flexible – they could be a fixing a sitting chair for a discus thrower one minute, mending a worn leather orthotic the next. They’ve even had somebody bring in their split cycling shorts. (Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.)