The pledge promises better sports facilities and more opportunities for participation, including training to help coaches and instructors meet the needs of disabled people.

Newham already runs a Game on Festival every year to mark the countdown to the Paralympic Games in 2012. Newham Sports Academy has two disabled athletes on its support programme for elite performers and has identified another ten.

The borough has three disability-focussed sports clubs offering goalball, power wheelchair football and multi sports while its watersports centre can offer kayaking, sailing and boating to people with special needs. It has also set up an action group for young disabled people to identify more ways in which they can get involved in sport.

To offer a wider range of sport activity, the council aims to set up more Paralympic sports clubs and work more closely with sports clubs to help them cater for disabled people.

Mayor of Newham, Sir Robin Wales says: "Disability sport deserves more attention and now we have a great opportunity to use the Games and Paralympic Games to change people's attitudes.

"There are over 23,000 disabled people in Newham and we want to offer them better sports and healthy activities across the borough. We will be looking to local organisations and community groups to help provide a choice of disability and mainstream sports clubs."

Newham schools are being invited to support Road to Beijing, a fundraising campaign by the British Paralympics Association, www.paralympics.org.uk/roadtobeijing

For more information about sport for disabled people, residents can email info@newham.gov.uk, telephone 020 8430 2012 or Text 07896 68 66 01