The chef de mission of the US Paralympic team has added her voice to the row over the lack of TV coverage in the US, saying it was disappointing that American viewers were not able to see more live broadcasts of the Games.

Aimee Mullins, a retired Paralympian, said: "I don't know what the rationale was behind the decision, but we have a way to go. That disconnect between the US being a world leader in disability issues and the broadcast coverage in real time of the Games is disappointing." Her comments follow criticism of the decision by the US host broadcaster, NBC, to only show four hour-long highlights packages of the Paralympics on its sports channel.

Mullins said she was confident US broadcasters would not be able to neglect the Games in the future. "The fact that not just the UK, but millions of people all over the world are watching this on some of their largest television stations – Australia, France, Germany – I think that the value of Paralympics broadcast rights are going to be something that NBC won't be able to ignore.

"Of course I would love for more live coverage while the Games is happening, but I am less distressed about it than I was in past Paralympic years because the glory of the internet means that people aren't being deterred by the fact that it's not on NBC – they're going to the internet and watching it anyway."

Since retiring from sport, Mullins has worked as a model and actor and was recently made a L'Oréal Paris brand ambassador. She has also made a name for herself as a sharp commentator on disability issues in the US, which as recently as last year she would have described as being where "race or gender was 50 or 60 years ago".

"When I watch Mad Men and I see the patronising attitudes to women that are so shocking for all of us to watch now, I feel that I've lived and see the same evolution in this regard around disability."

Mullins was born without her outer shinbones and had both legs amputated below the knee; doctors said she might never walk. Instead she competed at top level of collegiate sport in the US, and competed at the Atlanta Paralympics, in the 200m, 400m and long jump, wearing one of the first pairs of Cheetah legs, the type now worn by Oscar Pistorius.

"I do feel that something has been happening in this last year, and I'm not saying this to be Pollyanna-like, but there's been a quantum leap," Mullins said.

She points to pop culture and new sophistication in prosthetics as the reason why US attitudes towards disability are beginning to improve.

Pulling up her trousers to reveal her woven carbon-fibre legs, she said: "If I'm running around New York with these legs on, children come up to me with questions like: 'Where are the rocket boosters?' … 'Why can't you fly?' 'When are you going to fix that?' It's been a paradigm shift in the last 10 years.

"Before, if people wanted to be polite they didn't stare, they were afraid of what they didn't understand, they didn't want to sound rude, so they don't ask questions. It creates this horrible impasse of discomfort for everyone. I feel like that's really changed because of the role of aesthetics in all this gear."

The numbers of people returning with serious war injuries has also forced people to reconsider their attitudes. "The veterans that are returning from Afghanistan and Iraq are the first generation of war veterans that, with their changed bodies, do not see themselves as 'less than'; they do not expect to have a lesser-quality of life. I think a lot of that is to do with pop culture," she said. "These kids have grown up with Terminator and Robocop and Avatar and all these video games where rebuilding your body to better suit your environment is actually beneficial."

This shift has helped spark new interest in the Paralympics in the US. "The advertisements in the US – saying they were proud sponsors of the US Olympic and Paralympic team – that was also new. Coca-Cola and Samsung haven't done patronising saccharine commercials about Paralympians; they're doing beautifully shot advertisements about amazing athletic feats. It is extraordinary to run 400m in 46 seconds, it's extraordinary to do the back stroke without arms. I think that advertisers have understood that. The general population has."

Despite the controversy over NBC's coverage, she pointed out that there was more coverage this year than ever before. "I don't want to detract from that by pointing out what is lacking."

Mullins said it was vital that people become more educated and open-minded about disability, not least because increased life expectancy meant it was something most people would encounter. "At some point in every person's life you will need an assisted medical device – whether it's your glasses, your contacts, or as you age and you have a hip replacement or a knee replacement or a pacemaker. The prosthetic generation is all around us. People don't realise it, but it's going to be you … your parents, your child … but that's OK because it's never been a better time for that to happen. The leaps in science technology are extraordinary and they are only speeding up."