Occasionally we get a glimpse into how the world could be. A world where the environment is not disabling. It’s like the social model of disability come to life. Do you know what the social model of disability is? If not, you should. It’s one of those sleights of hand, or thought, where you are told something which you immediately know to be true and you can’t believe you didn’t realise it before. The social model sets out the idea that disability itself isn’t the problem, and often isn’t itself a problem at all, but it is our society and environment which disables people; that sees disabled people as in need of fixing, and of their physical requirements as some kind of inconvenience.

Once you have your head around it, you realise disability is as much a social and environmental construct as a personal physical issue. Places are inaccessible so disabled people can’t visit them, or at least not without loads of planning and fuss. It isn’t their disability that means they can’t go to the theatre, get on the train or visit the stadium, it’s the physical environment. See?

As much as I like to go around lecturing people on the social model of disability, the reality is that day-to-day, we are forced to accept that Ben can’t go everywhere. Then occasionally we go somewhere and we realise what a total pain in the arse most big trips are for wheelchair users, and how incredibly easy and convenient these things could be once someone has given it some thought. If you too would like to spend some time in this utopian dream then get yourselves to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the stadium therein.

The Olympics and Paralympics in 2012 were a seminal moment for me. I love the Olympics at the best of times, but to have it in my home city was so exciting. Max was two months old and I was able to spend hours feeding him, sitting on the sofa, watching athletics. Ben and I went to watch kayaking. After all the predictions of doom, the Olympics were brilliant and incredibly popular. When it was then time for the Paralympics, the huge wave of enthusiasm continued and loads of parathletes became household names. There were people with various disabilities everywhere you looked, on TV and billboards. It felt like the Paralympics were an actual thing, with parity to the Olympics, rather than something tacked on the end.

So for me, as the mother of disabled two-year-old in 2012, this was hugely significant. It fed my soul: disability can be part of the main conversation, can be a thing of pride and success, rather than pitying looks and awkwardness. It was a glimpse into a world of inclusion.

And I wasn’t the only one. The legacy lives on. Max’s favourite athlete is Jonny Peacock, after his teachers showed them films of him running at school (nothing to do with us). Jonny Peacock first came to national prominence at London 2012.

The legacy of London 2012 is the Olympic Park, including the main stadium. In July it was the World Paraathletic Championships, and because my brother-in-law is way more organised than we are, we had tickets for all of us (except Molly, let’s not waste this on a one-year-old).

It was reminiscent of 2012 with hoards of cheerful volunteers everywhere around the park, offering high fives to everyone who walked past. One guy offered Ben a high five and then patiently waited while Ben slowly but surely lifted up his hand. The park is all subtle landscaping and shallow gradients, ramps down to canal paths and bridges across water.

We enjoyed wheeling around, getting some free ice cream, and then going into the stadium where Ben’s ‘seat’ was just there, with a seat next to him for one of us (our other seats were in the row in front) and a great view. There was a Changing Places inside the stadium for us to use. We had parked nearby after being emailed a special pass by an incredibly cheerful person, and offered a lift in a wheelchair-accessible bus, but chose to walk.

While we were watching the many sports in front of us, various other wheelchair users were sat around us with their families and friends. We all watched various paraathletes compete at the top of their field. Everyone cheered the winners, and the losers. Ben found the cheering a bit much – there’s a fine line for him between being really excited and it being too much. It was almost a bit too much for me, to be honest (weep alert). But that’s fine – we didn’t really expect him to watch three straight hours of athletics, but the stadium allowed him to give it a try. And the more we take him, the more he’ll be able to cope with the sensory explosion that is a stadium full of people cheering a British high jumper.

It was a good day for Ben (at least the bit before it got too much), but it was also a really good day for me, James and Max. It’s as important for us to see this kind of utopia where disability is not remarkable, and certainly not negative. Where it becomes clear that disability is an extremely broad spectrum, and to assume anything about someone’s level of disability, and therefore what they can achieve, is ridiculous. Where the particulars of someone’s disability are only relevant to what classification they compete in, not what needs to be fixed.

We loved it all. It is unusual for us to go on an outing like this and not at some point discover some kind of problem with steps, or space for the wheelchair, or a lack of changing facilities. It was amazing for it all to be so easy, with so many enthusiastic volunteers, and such a feeling of inclusivity. Obviously on an average day, you might not have friendly people pointing you towards free ice cream, but you would still have the thoughtfully designed park and the stadium with easy wheelchair access. It can be done. It should be done.