[1] In 1948, the village hosted the Stoke Mandeville Games—the first organised sporting event for athletes with disabilities, and a precursor to the modern Paralympic Games—to coincide with the opening of the 1948 Olympics in London.

Contested between British veterans of the Second World War, it was the first organised sporting event for athletes with disabilities, and served as a precursor to the modern Paralympic Games.

[14] Prior to the Games, concerns were raised by TfL commissioner Peter Hendy that London's transportation system might not be able to handle the Paralympics adequately.

Cherisse Osei, drummer for Mika, and Sam Hegedus then performed, before the top of the bus folded up into its original form,sporting multi-coloured Paralympic livery.

[18][19] On 8 September 2011 Trafalgar Square staged International Paralympic Day, hosted by Rick Edwards, Ade Adepitan and Iwan Thomas, to coincide with a visit to London by representatives of the IPC.

The trailer, set to Public Enemy's song "Harder Than You Think", focused on the competitive and "superhuman" aspects of Paralympic sport, while acknowledging the personal events and struggles that reflected every athlete's participation in the Games.

Sir John Hegarty, the jury president said of it: "When you've got some really outstanding work it is tragic in some ways it can't get a bigger award, but there can only be one grand prix", while jury member Carlo Cavallone added "[Meet the Superhumans] is an amazing campaign, one of the golds that went through [the judging process] immediately ... Everyone felt it had the highest level of craft.

It puts an issue that was really important before London 2012 to raise awareness of the Paralympics [and] they were hyper successful … Dumb Ways to Die was a tough contender.

"[27] In August 2009, Royal Mail unveiled a series of 30 stamps (reflecting the 30th Olympiad) in honour of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, released in batches of ten between 2009 and July 2011.

[28][29][30] As it had done during the Olympics, Royal Mail honoured Britain's Paralympic gold medallists by painting a post box gold in each of their home towns (along with an additional post box outside the National Spinal Injuries Centre in Stoke Mandeville, in honour of its role in the Games' history),[31] and featured them on commemorative stamps released throughout the Games.

[32][33] Royal Mail originally planned only to release a series of six stamps with group portraits of Britain's medallists; however, the decision was met with backlash from critics, who argued that the organisation was discriminating against Paralympians by not granting them the same individual recognition as their Olympian counterparts.

[32] As a result of the criticism, Royal Mail announced on 15 August 2012 that it would release individual stamps for each British gold medallist during the Paralympics.

[40] However, as the opening ceremony's parade of nations took longer than expected, the flame was able to reach the external area of Olympic Stadium in time.

[42] IPC president Philip Craven congratulated London for this achievement, crediting it to "the insatiable appetite the public has for top class elite sport", and noted it would be fitting for a Paralympics held in its spiritual birthplace to have filled venues.

"Future" Paralympic athlete Joe Townsend, a Royal Marine who lost both of his legs after stepping on a land mine on duty in Afghanistan, delivered the flame to Olympic Stadium via a zipline from the ArcelorMittal Orbit tower.

[60] Malawi, which would have been making its debut at the Games, and Botswana, were both due to send delegations but withdrew hours before the opening ceremony citing a lack of government funds.

LOCOG chief Sebastian Coe stated that "beyond how the commercial value of this package has raised the bar financially for the Paralympic movement, the fantastic broadcast coverage we have agreed will help us take advantage of this opportunity to inspire disabled people of all ages to take up sport and be a catalyst for continued change in public attitudes towards disability."

The coverage was simulcast with open audio descriptions by AMI-tv, a network which broadcasts programming with accommodations for those who are visually or hearing impaired.

The best radio award went to BBC World Service and Larry Wong working for Edmonton Journal won the best photo prize for his image of Benoit Huot.

[95][96][97][98] The role of IT company Atos as a technology provider and official sponsor of the Paralympic Games was criticised by disability-rights groups, due to its contract with Britain's Department for Work and Pensions to carry out capability assessments that determine eligibility for disability benefits.

[41] They argued that Atos's programme had lacked integrity and was intended to help cut government spending, since the assessments have resulted in many workers with disabilities being incorrectly judged as "fit for work" and denied benefits.

[99] Therefore, the groups considered it hypocritical for Atos to sponsor the Games, whilst simultaneously operating a programme that has negatively affected the lives of residents with disabilities.

Organisers were criticised for their use of an 0844 revenue share number for this hotline, and for neglecting to mention on its ticketing website that calls would be charged by the minute.

[104] A minor incident occurred involving blind Member of Parliament David Blunkett, who was attending the opening ceremony alongside a Channel 4 director.

However, Blunkett noted that this was an isolated incident and chose not to make an issue of it, simply advising organisers to "seek to find a solution rather than impose a preconceived notion of what is or is not possible.

Complaints noted that Channel 4 had shown five ad breaks within the first hour of the ceremony, and that ironically, it had recently broadcast a six-hour long late-night dance music special with no adverts at all.

"[75][106] Channel 4 was also accused of showing too many studio segments during the first few days of the Games rather than live events, and for missing several notable events involving British athletes, including a swimming heat where Eleanor Simmonds set a new personal best and almost beat the world record, Sarah Storey winning her eleventh Paralympic medal, and Great Britain's opening wheelchair basketball game against Germany.

"[110] Following the closing ceremonies, Craven hinted that the IPC might exercise greater scrutiny on broadcasters at future Paralympics by stating that "if we find our values don't fit, we'll have to go somewhere else.

Craven praised NBC's decision to devote a relatively larger amount of airtime to future Paralympics, sharing his hope that U.S. audiences would be "as captivated and emotionally enthralled as the billions around the world who tuned in to London 2012 last summer.

Due to an error in the scoring system, the gold medal in the event was originally awarded to Ukrainian athlete Mariia Pomazan.