Since Wednesday, 31 disabled Bradford athletes have been in Bath to compete in the National Special Olympics, an event that takes place every four years.

It might as well be taking place on Mars for all the publicity it has achieved, according to Barry Thorne, former Bradford Labour councillor and Lord Mayor, who does voluntary work for Shipley-based Bradford Disability Sports.

Until Sunday, when the games end, the Bradford competitors will be taking part in athletics, swimming, tenpin bowling, golf and boccia, a form of ball game.

As far as the involvement of Bradford disabled people in various sports, last year’s Paralympic Games in London has had a positive effect, Mr Thorne said, even though no national funding was provided for the National Special Olympics.

“We have had more interest locally in people wanting to volunteer to help with sports events. Cycling has really lifted off. That’s one thing about disability-adapted bikes, they’re a good leveller.

“We’re now starting to do power wheelchair football. That’s linked in with Bradford College and the University of Bradford,” he added.

Last year the college and university joined forces to offer training camp facilities to both Olympic and Paralympic athletes. The college already hosts a number of different activities, including wheelchair rugby league and basketball.

In this respect what’s happening here contradicts a Sport and Recreation Alliance survey in January claiming that there had been little or no increase in the number of disabled people joining sports clubs in spite of the Paralympics.

However, the general public’s attitude to disability appears to have taken a turn for the worse, acccording to the disability charity Scope.

They base this troubling claim on a survey of 1,014 UK adults with either physical or mental disabilities, conditions or illnesses. Of this group, 84 per cent reportedly felt victimised by the “benefit scroungers” language used by politicians and the media about recent controversial changes in welfare benefits.

Alice Maynard, who chairs Scope, said: “Changing attitudes is at the heart of the legacy. The Paralympics were a breakthrough moment. Disabled people had never been so visible. Disability had never been talked about so openly, but you don’t change society in a fortnight.

“Speak to disabled people and the same issue comes up: ‘benefit scrounger’ rhetoric; the divisive myth that most people on benefits are skivers. Disabled people say they feel like they’ve done something wrong.”

Former Bradford mountaineer John Hawkridge, who has cerebral palsy, has never defined himself by his disability. In 1988 he staggered between walking sticks 18,000ft up Mount Everest, a feat filmed by BBC TV for a documentary called Everest The Hard Way.

Usually sceptical of claims like the one made by Scope, Mr Hawkridge, now 65, said he had some sympathy for the charity’s point of view. Changes in welfare benefit criteria meant that every claimant was subject to review.

He said: “I retired from the Inland Revenue at the age of 39 because I had to. But I still get letters saying you’re going to be called in to see if you’re fit for work. Everybody gets these letters. They’ve changed the policy so they can change the qualifying standards.

“The problem is, to be blunt, there are a lot of people claiming benefit who shouldn’t be. Fakers have forced the Government to tighten up, and this is affecting everybody.”

Mr Thorne, who usually takes a measured view of controversy, said he had never known the general attitude to disability to be as bad as it is now.

“People are more willing to think the worst than was the case three or four years ago. We have all heard of the bad back syndrome,” he said, referring to the faking Mr Hawkridge mentioned.

“If you see somebody in a wheelchair, that’s okay. But if they’re not you’re likely to think they’re pretending. It could be they have a real disability. More and more you’re getting the attitude, ‘Oh, they’re all scroungers’. I have never known it as bad.

“It’s poor working people blaming poor unemployed people and poor unemployed people blaming the disabled.”

It will take more than a multi-million pound public extravanagza directed by Danny Boyle to change that.