The Paralympics brought with them a positive change in attitudes towards disabled people, yet there is still a long way to go.
The French company Atos, contracted by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to reasess the situation of 2.6 million people on incapacity benefits by 2014, was one of the sponsors of the Paralympics. The government claimed that over £600m were overspent on benefits each year for people who no longer qualified for them. The company’s treatment of those it deemed “fit for work” resulted in some suicides as …