THE CHANGING ROOM

As a swimmer you have to lay yourself bare – well, almost. Once you’re in your swimwear, there is little left to the imagination, so I very quickly got used to people looking at my artificial leg and, when I took that off, staring at my stump. Children will look straight at me, but adults tend to look out of the corner of their eye and try to hide their thoughts. Just occasionally, they let the mask slip – and you get an insight into how negative impressions of disability pass from generation to generation.

One particular event springs to mind. I was in the changing rooms at the Barnet Copthall swimming pool in North London. There are two swimming pools and a diving pit there, so it is not unusual for members of the swimming team to be getting changed at the same time as the general public.