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Paralympic London 2012 event report by Deborah Navarro Rosenblatt

"Like most Londoners, I came down last month with a sudden bout of Post-Olympic Depression Syndrome. Valiantly trying to beat this illness and determined to extend my Olympic experience I scrambled for an antidote: tickets for the Paralympics.

Research Assistant in Nutritional Epidemiology, Deborah Navarro Rosenblatt (Public Health), reports on her experience of the Paralympics Games:

"I like so many others, I made the error of approaching the Paralympics as a substitute Olympics but over the course of the Games I found out just how misguided this approach was: the Paralympics, I would learn, are the real thing.

It was the desire to catch a glimpse of the Olympic Park's Aquatic Centre before its remodelling which encouraged me to procure last-minute tickets for swimming.

At the Aquatic Centre, my amazement at experiencing this impressive venue with its evocative, wave-shaped wooden ceiling was nothing compared to seeing the swimmers. Pre-Paralympics, I had been unaware that athletes were categorised not only by disability but by the severity of their handicaps.

From the men's 100m backstroke final to the women's 4 x 100m freestyle relay. I was stunned by their determination: even without all their limbs, with impeded vision or with severe cerebral palsy, all swam faster than I ever will.

I was there to witness triumph in the women's 200m individual medley and when the whole venue burst into God Save the Queen, I couldn't help but feel emotional and somewhat British despite being Chilean!

I was now hooked. For my next fix, my friends and I bought tickets for the morning track and field session on 8 September, the Games' penultimate day.

In a sold-out stadium, we sat just metres from the Paralympic torch -- I could even feel the heat of the cauldrons! Here too, the athletes' prowess astonished me. From the men's 4x400m relay, to the women's javelin - won by Brazil's joyous all the performances deepened my appreciation of the participants.

That final visit to the Olympic Park yielded one more unforgettable moment outside Eton Manor tennis centre: meeting the proud parents of newly-crowned gold medallist of Israel. In winning the men's single quad tennis tournament, Gershony, a critically injured war veteran, demonstrated the limitless potential of persons with disabilities.

For me, the Paralympics showed that we must accept that while people with disabilities are different -- after all, we all are -- they should be accorded the same treatment as other people. They have shown, yet again, that they can do as much as the able-bodied and in the case of the Paralympians - so much more.

This was the educational ending to my astonishing London 2012 experience."