Tanni Grey-Thompson warns that Paralympic legacy threatened by cuts Tanni Grey-Thompson on her way to winning one of her 11 gold medals, at the Paralympic Games in Sydney in 2000. Photograph: Phil Noble/PA Britain's greatest Paralympian, Lady Tanni Grey-Thompson, has warned that disability benefit cuts will affect the development of top athletes and undermine the Games' key legacy aim of widening access to sport for disabled people. Hundreds of thousands of working age people will lose disability benefits over the next four years as a result of the government's controversial welfare reforms. Grey-Thompson, who won 11 Paralympic gold medals as a wheelchair athlete, said disability living allowance (DLA) had been crucial in enabling her and many other disabled athletes to participate and compete. It's important to recognise that the cuts will affect Paralympians, who have higher living costs as a result of their impairment. Her comments come as the starting gun is fired on the 100-day countdown to the Paralympics, which take place at the end of August. She said that although the very top disabled athletes might get financial help from sponsors, many others would find it difficult to compete if they lost the benefit. I know someone who is on the edge of qualification who has had her DLA removed. It impacts on her ability to get involved in society, not just sport. DLA is a non-means tested benefit, worth between £20 and £131.50 a week, paid to disabled people to help with the extra costs of transport, equipment, care and other specialist needs. The government plans to replace DLA, which goes to about 3.2 million people at an annual cost of £12.6bn, with personal independence payments (PIP) from 2013. It estimates that up to 500,000 people will lose entitlement to the benefit over the next four years as eligibility criteria are tightened and claims reassessed. Disability benefit cuts are proving increasingly controversial for ministers. The Royal British Legion has called for disabled ex-service personnel to be given special treatment after it emerged that many limbless war veterans with mobility impairments would not qualify for disability benefit under the proposed new PIP rules. Grey-Thompson added that it was not just an issue for elite athletes but would affect the health and wellbeing of thousands of disabled people whose ability to participate in sport would be curtailed if they lost financial support. This would drive up social care and NHS costs in the long term. Ministers hope an increase in sporting activity among disabled people, and improved wider public perceptions of disability, will be key long-term legacies of the Games. Grey-Thompson is spearheading an £8m Sport England programme, launched on Monday, that is aimed at increasing participation in sport by disabled people. At present only about 18% of disabled adults undertake physical activity for more than 30 minutes a week, compared with 38% of non-disabled adults. Her comments were backed by other Paralympians. Ben Rushgrove, a sprinter and silver medallist at the Beijing Games, said that while he had no problem with the principle of welfare reform, the loss of disability benefit would be an obstacle to sporting participation for many people. Because of cuts people are going to go back into themselves a little. They won't have the funds to get out and about. He added: "We have to ask what type of society people want. In the UK years ago we made a decision to support those people who are the most vulnerable in society and we would not let them fall by the wayside. I feel that idea is being eroded away. There will always be people who game the system. But most disabled people are living hand to mouth. It's about getting the change right and the pace of change right. Ade Adepitan, the Paralympian wheelchair basketball medallist, who grew up in the East End of London, said disability benefit had been vital to enable him to travel to training and competitions. Without DLA I would not have been able to do what I did or be a top athlete. Adepitan, who is co-presenting TV coverage of the games for Channel 4, said that people "need to get their facts straight" on disability benefits. Politicians' rhetoric about benefit cuts was in danger of "turning people against each other" and leading people to think incorrectly that "everyone on benefits is a scrounger." The rower Alan Crowther, who won four world championship gold medals and has competed in able-bodied teams, said DLA had been crucial to his development as a top disabled athlete: "If you took disability benefit away from me I'd be sat in the house unable to go anywhere." Crowther, who is blind, warned that disability benefit cuts, along with cuts to council social care budgets, would prevent many younger disabled people from participating in grassroots sport. "The government has played DLA totally wrong," he said. Sport England said challenges facing disabled people wanting to take part in sport included a lack of specialist equipment, transport issues, difficulty accessing sport facilities, poor information about sporting opportunities, and a lack of self-confidence among disabled people. A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said DLA was outdated and the new PIP support would be focused on those disabled people "who need it most."