Beijing Paralympics Report: One Year Afterward

A Paralympic Games Impact report out of China says that the impact indicators could be put into three categories, including conceptions, organization and deployment of material and manpower. The perceptions of the public for example toward people with a disability have become that of an open understanding of equality and diversity. Specifically, the change includes people's attitudes toward people with a disability, toward their participating in social activities and their enjoying of social rights and interests, and their image among the public.

The report continues, comparing two survey results, and showing that the public evaluation of the Paralympics impact on public perceptions of people with a disability was much higher after the Games than that before the Games. In 2006, about 89% of able-bodied people and 86% of people with a disability held a positive view that the Paralympics would help improve the social status of the people with a disability, while in 2008 after the Games was over, the two figures rose to 98% and 93% respectively.

Back in 2006, around 95% of the able-bodied people and 89% of people with a disability believed that the Paralympics would encourage the public to pay more attention to the group, while in 2008 after the Games had ended, the two figures reached 97% and 92% respectively. And, in 2006, 93% of the able-bodied people and 87% of the people with a disability held that the Paralympics would help earn people with a disability more respect from the public, while in 2008 when the Games were over, the two figures rose to 98% and 91%.

Facts and figures show that in 2006 an overwhelming majority of people held a positive view on the influence of the preparation and hosting of the Paralympics in changing public perceptions of people with a disability, and in 2008 when the Games were closed, the actual general public evaluation in this regard was much higher than expected. It is therefore safe to say that the Paralympics is a success in bettering public perceptions of people with a disability, elevating their social status, capturing more public attention to them and earning them greater respect from the general public.

Source:

http://en.olympic.cn/news/olympic_news/2009-09-08/1875131.html