![]() Miranda ascended on wires through the solar system and "smashed" the glass ceiling: the action might have been pure fiction, but in a sense the real world had made a crack. "How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, That has such people in't." As an enormous version of Marc Quinn's Alison Lapper fourth plinth sculpture sat naked, unapologetic in the centre of the stadium, I felt the hope no one at home could disagree.Ĭo-artistic director Jenny Sealey had said: "I want people to see a great show and come out saying: 'Bloody hell, I never knew there were so many disabled people.' This is our chance not to be hidden any more." "O, wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here!" the Tempest's Miranda, eyes of the show, told us. ![]() The theme of the night was enlightenment – not simply in the age of science and art, but also in regard to disability and perceptions of it. It was a message the ceremony couldn't have avoided. Placards of "Equality" and "Rights" were waved – informing the ignorant that while the universal declaration of human rights declares each of us free and equal in dignity and rights, some remain more equal than others. Disabled musicians cried "Spasticus Autisticus!" as Ian Drury's song of protest refused not to be heard. He was always ringing up to me at midnights. Handel's Eternal Source of Light Divine sang as six Paralympians flew across the crowd.īut there were also moments of anger and political statement. British physicist and mathematician Stephen Hawking has made fundamental contributions to the. Aerial ballet danced disability through the sky the shine of silver costumes glistening in the night. Performers were suspended above the stadium, speckled with coloured umbrellas, prosthetic legs and Doc Martins. Those words rang out in a ceremony that took a tone of thoughtfulness, threading emotional and complex ideas through bright and mystical sights. No matter what, we share the ability to be creative and "there should be no boundary to human endeavour". "There is no such thing as a standard or run of the mill human being," Hawking declared. The pacing may have suffered as a result, but there was a feeling that didn't matter the world was watching thousands of disabled people in a show that said disability was both something to be proud of and a state that made us no different than anyone else. Barely 20 minutes into proceedings, the "As" of the list of nations started the long (long) walk out. If Danny Boyle's show was merely the "warm up" for the sportspeople, then the Paralympics brought that sentiment to life. The fact that the clock’s hands aren’t moving isn’t good news. What we got was beauty, a thrust of anger, and a spotlight on athletes too often in the shade. It will remain set at 11:57three minutes to midnight. It was clear a vast new audience would be watching those usually ambivalent to disabled sport energised by a successful Olympics and the buzz of a home Games. No one quite knew what to expect from the opening of the Paralympics, the night when disability would flood onto screens. ![]() But by midnight, wonder was literally flying through the air.
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