When German television producer Martin Zimmermann first covered the Paralympic Games in Barcelona in the summer of 1992 he was there with two other producers delivering two half-hour features to viewers back home.

Today he is in Whistler with a crew of 20-plus people to deliver one hour-long and one half-hour show daily and he will be providing commentary for the live feed of the Paralympics closing ceremonies Sunday.

“We are doing much more,” Zimmermann said of Paralympic coverage by ARD, one of Germany’s two national public broadcasters. “You cannot compare what we did then to what we are doing today.

“It is growing definitely,” said Zimmermann, who noted that Friday’s morning’s Paralympics show was watched by 10 per cent of German television viewers.

Paralympic athletes are noticing the increased attention. Despite the fact that only select Paralympic events are being broadcast live by the host broadcaster CTV and news of their success doesn’t get the same profile as their Olympic counterparts, they are encouraged by these Games.

But both athletes and their families feel that if their sports were more widely shared on television and in the news, it would generate even more interest.

“I know we have 1,200 media at these games and that is the biggest ever for the Paralympic Games,” said Tom Silletta, the coach who is in charge of Canada's development team. “There are 150 Canadian media. I also notice the athletes are being interviewed quite a lot more than ever before.”

Silletta said despite the media attention though, people have trouble finding coverage.

“When I call home my wife in Montreal says she hasn’t seen anything,” he said.

Canadian alpine Paralympian Karolina Wisniewska, who won a bronze this week in the women’s slalom, said she is being asked to do more interviews than ever before.

“It has been pretty good,” she said, as she faced multiple microphones in the mixed zone of the alpine events where athletes talk to the press after races. “It can always be better.

“It’s certainly a step up from Nagano, which was my first Paralympics and nobody had any idea it was happening.”

It was Nagano that first drew the attention of the Japanese media to the Paralymics, according to journalist Koichi Ito, who is here with a team of seven from Kyodo News to cover the Paralympics.

And it has been the Vancouver 2010 that proved transformational for Ito.

“Coming to these Paralympic Games has changed the way I was thinking,” he said. “Before these Paralympics I was not interested in disabled people to be honest.

“But every skier has their own history and story, so I changed my mind. I changed my way of thinking completely.”

It is that change in perception that many Paralympic athletes would like to see and they know it can only come as more people are exposed to the skill and the excitement of their sports.

Stephani Victor, a U.S. sit-skier, who won a gold medal in Turino and so far has collected two silver medals at Whistler, says the 2010 Games have been the most inclusive of any to date. From the medals that are no less finely crafted than the Olympic ones (her gold medal from Turino is painted she said) to the fans who are following Paralympic sports, she said these Games are marked by a different attitude – one of inclusion, not focusing on differences.

“When I go skiing I am out there skiing, I am not thinking about my disability, I’m not thinking about not having legs or my wheelchair at the bottom, I’m skiing, I’m free,” she said. “And then I’ll run into someone, a total stranger will say ‘wow so amazing someone in your condition can ski.’

“Now I don’t’ think they intend to be condescending but it is. And Vancouver is the first Games where I have felt included not only by the organizers, all the volunteers, our special treatment for the medals plaza, everything but also just the general public.”

Victor said strangers came up to her when she went out for dinner.

“I had half a dozen people come up to me and say congratulations, I saw you at the medals ceremony,” she said. “They have taken such a genuine interest in these Games, from the perspective of sport, not coming here to feel sorry for the poor gal that lost her legs but ‘I can see that she’s an incredible athlete and I want to come and watch a high level of competition.”

The athletes, who know more than anyone the skill it takes to navigate the same courses used by the Olympians, are somewhat surprised that their performances aren’t deemed at least as newsworthy.

“The same action you see in the Olympics watching Bode Miller ski down you’re going to get 10 times the action when Chris skis down,” said Victor of American sit-skier and multiple medal-winner Chris Devlin-Young. “Any time you focus on the aspect of sport it is going to be great television.

“The reason people love the Olympics is they love to connect with the individual behind the great athletic performance. In Paralympics you are going to find the same interesting stories. I think the more that gets revealed, the more people will have an interest.”

As Canadian alpine skier and Paralympian Chris Williamson pointed out jokingly, he can’t even have a license to drive a car yet skiing visually impaired at speeds of 100 kilometres-plus he goes faster than most people ever get to drive. He said the athletics are attracting fans.

“It isn’t just feel good disabled people are coming out,” he said. “It is more we are true athletes, we are giving it all, we are the best athletes in the world with our disabilities.”

Donna Devlin-Young is Chris Devlin-Young’s wife and this week she is in Whistler watching her husband race. When he raced in the Torino Games, she had to get up a 3 a.m. and try to find an online video feed of his race. She never got to see it.

“I can definitely attest to the fact there is more media for the Winter Games than I have ever seen before and I have been working with disabled athletes since 1996,” she said.

Sean Rose, who divides his time between his home in the United Kingdom and one in Kimberley, said he is seeing an increase in Paralympic coverage in the UK, a fact he said could be related to the upcoming 2012 Summer Games in London.

“It’s definitely taken a step in the right direction,” he said. “I think there is a lot more interest, people are more aware of it (the Paralympic Games) and they are starting to follow it.

“People are amazed. It opens their eyes to what is possible out there.”