After this morning's marathon, the Paralympics will wind up tonight with a grand closing ceremony that will see fireworks exploding above the Bird's Nest once again. Before it's all over and the city begins to emerge from the "Olympic period" - all the cars will be back on the road on Sunday - we though it timely to reprint Luke T. Johnson's article about the athletes competing in this year's games and the impact the Beijing Paralympics will have on the city and its people. The article first appeared in the September issue of Urbane.

Before the accident, Sgt. Steve Daniel was like most people – he knew next to nothing about people with disabilities. He had never heard of the Paralympics.