It’s not until a member of your own family needs help coping with a disability that you realise quite how tough it can be for both of you.

When I took my mum out in a wheelchair, being so short I could barely see over the top of her.

Of course, this had its amusing moments but our outings were generally fraught with frustration and often danger. I have to admit that until I took mum out in her wheelchair I really hadn’t taken much notice of the state of the pavements. 

For a start, the kerbs are higher than you think apart from a few places where they are lowered to assist in crossing the road. Then there are the cracks in the uneven tarmac plus the manhole covers which we found out the hard way aren’t always flush with the pavement surface. Going over them gave mum a jolt many times, nearly tipping her out of the chair.

And then of course we faced the hazard of thoughtlessly parked cars and vans on the pavement, and carelessly abandoned hire scooters forcing us out into the road to get by. 

The same question crops up again and again: why are so many people so selfish?

Some years ago I took mum in her wheelchair to a show at Norwich Theatre Royal. When it was time to get to the seats a crowd pushed ahead of us.

One woman, old enough to know better, cut in front of us and mum’s chair clipped her heel. The air went blue. I apologised but the wretched woman was calling my mum a silly old fool even though I was the chair-pusher. The outing was spoiled after all that.

We had some trouble-free experiences taking a wheelchair on trains.

On a trip to an exhibition in London we were escorted and collected on time from stations by polite and helpful staff.

If I’d needed assistance I was confident that it would have been readily available. The Paralympian Baroness Grey-Thompson was not so fortunate when she recently reached journey’s end at King’s Cross and in spite of making an advance booking there was nobody to help her alight with her wheelchair.

She waited and waited and eventually crawled from the train. She was understandably furious and thanks to her high profile the event got plenty of publicity, though she pointed out that it shouldn’t take a high profile to get better treatment for disabled people. 

It's ironical that this should have happened at the start of the Paralympics in Paris where around 250 athletes are taking part. An official said that everything possible was being done to try and make the city accessible for the athletes to show how inclusive we can all be to make life easier for disabled people wherever they may live.

It so happens that I was born with a disability which took many years of hospital treatment to correct.

Whenever my mum took me out in a pushchair she used to get very cross when people turned and stared at this “imperfect” child. I don’t remember any of this, only the painful treatment that eventually sorted me out.

So when I watch the Paralympians I can appreciate the efforts they go to. As somebody said, these athletes are assembled this year “to sprinkle a bit of gold dust at the games.”

And they most certainly do.