A trip to the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris with Channel 4 and Shaw Trust

At the beginning of September, I went to the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris! I was invited by Channel 4, Shaw Trust and the Disability Power 100, on occasion of their Paralympic Games Garden Party at the British Embassy.

I caught a bad cold a few days in so sadly I didn't end up making it to the party — I was gutted. But I did make it to the Wheelchair Rugby final (thanks to my friend Anna Landre), which was incredible. It was Japan vs. USA, with Japan deservedly winning Gold. It was a great initiation into the fast —and often violent!— game of wheelchair rugby, which I’d previously only learnt about through the (excellent) 2005 documentary Murderball.

Thank you again to Channel 4 and Shaw Trust for inviting me on this exciting trip. It was wonderful to catch a glimpse of my first Paralympics, to be in a buzzing Paris, and to see so many talented disabled people in the limelight.