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With barely 500 days to the Paralympics, an effort to change perceptions of disability will feature able-bodied children playing blind football and seated volleyball On Sunday, there will be 500 days to go until the Paralympics opening ceremony. If that fact has passed you by then you’re probably not alone. Most press mentions of the Paralympics, which begin on 27 August a fortnight after the Olympics closing ceremony, have of late related to its part in the damaging, byzantine row between Games organisers and the British Olympic Association . The BOA’s insistence that the Paralympics be considered separately from the Olympics for accounting purposes did little to promote the idea that the two events should be considered as part of an integrated whole. There is both danger and opportunity in the fact that the Paralympics follow hard on the heels of a home Olympics. The danger is that it will have an after-the-Lord-Mayor’s-show feel, with the nation spent after putting so much energy and emotion into the Olympics. The opportunity lies in the fact that the Paralympics, for which 2m tickets will go on sale, can harness all the momentum of the Olympics and present an unrivalled opportunity. As is obligatory, a host of legacy aspirations have been loaded on to the Paralympics beyond their hoped-for impact on sport. To mark the 1,000 days to go mark, the then Olympics secretary, Tessa Jowell, announced that a sixth “legacy promise” would be added to those made in Singapore – to use the Games to deliver a major shift in the way society perceives disability. It vowed to “change the lives” of 10m disabled people by “increasing participation in sport and physical activity; improving business, transport and employment opportunities; and changing attitudes and perceptions of disabled people in society”. I recall speaking about the pledges on a crackly phone line from the World Cup draw in Cape Town to Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, who above anyone else is synonymous in the public mind with Paralympic success. She was encouraged they were being made but equally determined that government be held to account on them. At best, there is mixed evidence of any progress since. At Lee Valley athletics centre earlier this week, Lord Coe, the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, and Ellie Simmonds – one of the handful of Paralympic stars recognisable to the general sporting public – gathered with the obligatory gaggle of schoolchildren to launch an effort to change their perceptions of Paralympic sport. Sainsbury’s – breaking with tradition by solely concentrating on sponsoring the Paralympics (a clever deal that may well deliver more bang for its buck) – is launching a drive to get 1 million schoolchildren (able-bodied and disabled) playing Paralympic sport . The idea is that all children will get an idea of how challenging sitting volleyball or blind football can be in sporting terms and therefore feel a connection with elite Paralympic athletes. Fine in theory, but will it work in practice? Coe, unsurprisingly, is firmly in the camp of those who believe the Paralympics will be a huge success and mark a pivotal moment. Unruffled by the fact that not a single one of the schoolchildren present knew who he was, he talks a good game. He speaks with justification about the “proprietorial pride” Britain feels in the Paralympics, deriving from their birth at Stoke Mandeville and Team GB’s historical success. He passionately argues that Locog has always viewed the two events as an integrated whole, but also acknowledges that there needs to be specific focus on bringing Paralympic sport and its athletes to wider attention. There seems to be a natural tension between the British Paralympic Association – currently without a chief executive after Phil Lane stepped down suddenly earlier this year – and some of those looking to take the event to a wider audience. Channel 4 and Sainsbury’s inevitably alight on the backstories of some of the athletes while the impression is that the BPA would rather focus solely on the sport. All of those involved are edging towards a mutually beneficial way forward that will need to coalesce around the point at which tickets go on sale later this year. Some will go to the Paralympics because they have genuinely engaged with the sports and the athletes, others will no doubt go for the experience and to see the 2012 venues. Locog, the BPA, Channel 4, Sainsbury’s and all the other sponsors, the media and the government must find a way to reach out to both. For Channel 4 too, which took a gamble in outbidding the BBC for the rights , there are big risks as well as sizeable rewards on offer. Coe, for one, is typically bullish. “This is our time, this is our moment. Of all the things we are doing, this is the one that can make the difference,” he says. Time will tell. Paralympics 2012 Olympic Games 2012 Sebastian Coe J Sainsbury Owen Gibson guardian.co.uk