Richard Marvin HansenCCOBC (born August 26, 1957) is a Canadian track and field athlete (Paralympic Games and Olympic Games), activist, and philanthropist for people with disabilities. When Rick was 15, he was riding in the back of a pickup truck after a fishing trip with his friend, when the driver lost control and the vehicle rolled over. Hansen was trapped on the inside of the roll and thrown to the ground, along with the equipment from the truck. As a result of the crash, Hansen broke his back, sustained a spinal cord injury and became paralyzed from the waist down.
Hansen is most famous for his Man In Motion World Tour, in which he circled the globe in a wheelchair to demonstrate the potential of people with disabilities if barriers were removed and to raise money to support the removal of additional barriers in the future for people with disabilities in the future. He was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.[1] He was one of the final torchbearers in the 1988 Winter Olympics and the 2010 Winter Olympics.[2] He was profiled and spoke during the 2010 Winter Paralympics opening ceremony.[3]CTV News Special: Rick Hansen: Unbreakable 50 Years Later aired on Dec 2, 2023 featuring interviews with Hansen and Sandie Rinaldo, along with exclusive footage of Hansen returning to the site of the accident in Williams Lake for the first time. The event marked 50 years since he sustained his spinal cord injury.[4]
Early life
Born in Port Alberni, British Columbia in 1957, Rick Hansen grew up in Williams Lake, British Columbia. He had an active childhood, where he played volleyball, baseball, softball, and basketball. He often spent time outdoors with his father and grandfather who took him fishing.[5]
On June 27, 1973, Rick and a friend were coming back from a fishing trip and riding in the back of a pickup truck when the driver lost control of the vehicle and rolled. The impact threw Rick and his friend from the vehicle, resulting in breaking his back a spinal injury that left Rick paralyzed from the waist down.[6]
He worked on rehabilitation, completed high school, and in 1976 he enrolled at the University of British Columbia, and became the first student with a physical disability to graduate with a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1986 from the university.[7] Hansen won national championships on wheelchair volleyball and wheelchair basketball teams. In 1977, Hansen recruited Terry Fox to join the Vancouver Cable Cars to play on their wheelchair basketball team. The two became good friends.[8]
Hansen went on to become a world class champion wheelchair marathoner and Paralympic athlete. He competed in wheelchair racing, winning a total of six medals; three gold, two silver, and one bronze. Hansen won 19 international wheelchair marathons, including three world championships. He also coached high school basketball and volleyball. Rick had a very close relationship with his family, especially with his brother, father and grandfather, with whom he enjoyed frequent fishing trips.
In 1980, fellow British Columbian and Canadian athlete Terry Fox, who had lost a leg to bone cancer, undertook the Marathon of Hope, intending to run across Canada from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island to raise awareness for cancer research. He made it from St. John's, Newfoundland to Thunder Bay, Ontario before a cancer recurrence forced him to stop, about halfway through his journey. Inspired by the way Canadians decided to reframe disability by Terry's demonstration of ability, Hansen decided he also wanted to make a difference by applying his athletic talent on his Man In Motion World Tour to demonstrate the potential of people with disabilities if barriers were removed and to inspire a more accessible world.[citation needed]
In UBC Biomechanics Lab, preparing for tour
He embarked on his Man In Motion World Tour on March 21, 1985, from Oakridge Mall in Vancouver. Although public attention was low at the beginning of the Tour, he soon attracted international media attention as he progressed on a 26-month trek, logging 40,075 km through 34 countries on four continents (North America, Europe, Oceania, and Asia) before crossing Canada. One of the highlights of the Tour was wheeling up the Great Wall of China. His highest summit was in the Swiss Alps at 5,577 ft (1700 metres). Each wheeling day, he averaged 12 to 14 hours of wheeling and 85km a day. He returned to Vancouver's BC Place Stadium to cheering crowds of fifty thousand well-wishers on May 22, 1987. Hansen and his team raised $26 million for the removal of barriers for people with disabilities. The Tour also helped to change the way people with disabilities are perceived.[citation needed]
On May 22, 2017, Rick Hansen donated one of his well-used gloves from the Tour to the Canadian Museum of History.[9] The glove is on display in the Museum's signature exhibition, the Canadian History Hall, alongside an image from Hansen's Man In Motion World Tour visit to the Great Wall of China in April 1986.
On May 17, 2020, the Canadian Museum of History announced the acquisition of the Rick Hansen Man In Motion World Tour Collection.[10] Spanning Hansen's early athletic career and life on Tour, the collection includes 1,700 artifacts and thousands of behind-the-scenes videos, photographs and documents.[11] The collection was donated by Rick Hansen. The Rick Hansen Gallery located in the BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum features a small selection of memorabilia from Hansen's Tour including one of his wheelchairs, competitive wheelchair marathon medals and video footage.
Hansen is the founder of the Rick Hansen Foundation, which has generated more than $394 million to heighten awareness, change attitudes and advance the quality of life for people with disabilities.[citation needed]
Rick Hansen Foundation
The Rick Hansen Foundation was established in 1988, as a legacy to Rick Hansen's Man In Motion World Tour to continue raising funds and awareness to create a world without barriers for people with disabilities. For over 35 years, the Foundation has been actively improving the lives of people with disabilities, changing perceptions and breaking down barriers. The vision of the organization is to create an inclusive world where people with disabilities are living to their full potential. Through programs, collaboration and leadership, the Foundation continues to remove both physical and attitudinal barriers, and improve the quality of life for people with disabilities, which include the cure and care of people living with spinal cord injuries (SCI).
The Foundation operates two major programs. The Rick Hansen Foundation School Program educates and empowers youth from Kindergarten to Grade 12 to become accessibility and inclusion champions. The Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification (RHFAC) program provides a range of accessibility training courses, and rates and certifies sites on their level of meaningful accessibility for people of varying abilities.
Every year, starting on the last Sunday in May, Canadians celebrate National AccessAbility Week (NAAW).[12] Founded as “National Access Awareness Week"[13] in 1988, and inspired by Hansen's Man In Motion World Tour, this week is an opportunity to celebrate Canadians with disabilities and raise awareness of the critical need for accessibility and inclusion in communities and workplaces. During 2011 and 2012, the Foundation was also part of a cross-Canada tour called the Rick Hansen 25th Anniversary Relay that followed the same route as Hansen's original Man In Motion Tour, roughly 25 years after it began.
Spinal cord injury research
Hansen was noted as "the driving force" in the development of the 48 million dollars raised for the International Collaboration of Repair Discoveries (ICORD), an interdisciplinary research centre focused on spinal cord injury. ICORD also maintains the Rick Hansen Spinal Cord Injury Registry, allowing doctors and experts across the country to share vital information on what works and what doesn't for specific kinds of spinal cord injuries.[citation needed]
ICORD is located inside the Blusson Spinal Cord Centre, which is also home to the Brenda and David McLean Integrated Spine Clinic, which provides one-stop outpatient care for people with spinal cord injuries or diseases of the spine, as well as the Praxis Spinal Cord Institute (formerly the Rick Hansen Institute).[citation needed]
The building integrates both SCI research with care.[citation needed]
Other initiatives
Hansen is a supporter of the conservation of Fraser River White sturgeon and Pacific Salmon. He has served as chair for the Founding Chair of both Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society (FRSCS) and the Pacific Salmon Endowment Fund Society, helping to restore and protect sturgeon and salmon populations in British Columbia. Hansen contributed to the Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society with the money earned from the book Tale of the Great White Fish. He continues to support the FRSCS and the Pacific Salmon Foundation.[citation needed]
Hansen in 2008
Professional background
Founder, Rick Hansen Foundation (2018–present)[citation needed]
President and CEO, Rick Hansen Foundation (1997–2018)[citation needed]
Consultant on Disability Issues to the President, University of British Columbia (1989–1991)[citation needed]
Commissioner General to Canada Pavilion at World Exposition '88 in Brisbane, Australia (1987–1988)[citation needed]
Awards and honours
Professional Sports Achievement Award, Pan Am Clinic Foundation (2018)
Jack Diamond Sports Personality of the Year Award, Jewish Community Centre (2017)
Senate 150th Anniversary Medal, The Senate (2017)
Social Impact Award, Doha GOAL Foundation (2015)
Recognition of Achievement Award, Excellence Canada (2013)
Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012)[DT1]
Recipient of CPA Alberta's Christopher Reeve Award (2007)
Hansen was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada on June 29, 1987. His citation reads:[15][16]
Already a world-renowned wheelchair athlete, this British Columbian fulfilled a dream of wheeling around the world to make others aware of the potential of the disabled and to raise funds for spinal cord research among other things. His 44,075 km. journey, recently completed, took him to four continents and 34 countries, inspiring people around the world to realize their potential and raising many millions of dollars for the cause.
Honorary appointments
Honorary Director, Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation (2002)
Honorary Board member, Think First Foundation (1998–2000)
Honorary Chair, Brain and Spinal Cord Research Centre Campaign, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia (1995)
Honorary Patron, B.C. Aboriginal Network on Disability Society (1995–Present)
Honorary Chair, Grey Cup Festival (1994)
Honorary Chair, Active Living Alliance for Canadians with a Disability (1990–Present)
Honorary Chair, Alberta Premier's Advisory Council for Persons with Disabilities (1989–Present)
Honorary Chair, BC Premier's Advisory Council for Persons with Disabilities (1989–Present)
Hansen was named Commissioner General for the Canadian Pavilion at Expo '88 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
In 2017, Hansen collaborated with Jake MacDonald on Rick Hansen's Man In Motion World Tour, a book celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Tour. He is also the co-author of two books: the autobiographical Rick Hansen: Man in Motion, written with Jim Taylor (published in 1987, ISBN0-88894-560-4), and the self-help book Going the Distance: 7 steps to personal change, written with Dr. Joan Laub. Hansen is also the inspiration for four children's books, Boy in Motion, Roll On, Tale of a Great White Fish: A Sturgeon Story and The Boy Who Loved to Move.
Personal life
Hansen and his wife Amanda Reid first met during his Man in Motion World Tour as she was his physiotherapist. They married in 1987 and have three daughters and grandchildren.[18][19][20]
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