This is definitely not a competition with Terry Fox and the Marathon of Hope. Just a weekly Rambling that will hopefully remind us of an epic Canadian event from the 1980s.
Rick Hansen had been paralyzed in a car crash when he was only 15 years old. The years have gone by, and if he had been bilingual English/French, he just might have been the Governor General of Canada. What a life to reflect upon.
His Man in Motion World Tour took him to 34 countries, travelling over 40,075 kilometres on his wheelchair. He wheeled some eight hours each day, about 85 kilometres.
Two years and one day start to finish, and the 40th anniversary is this year. Now, a new documentary film about his life, “Man in Motion: The Rick Hansen Story,” is out, making its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Rick was the founder of the Rick Hansen Foundation, after being galvanized by his British Columbia pal Terry Fox. To summarize, his goal has been to eliminate accessibility barriers and transform the public perception of people with disabilities. For one living proof of the result, just look at several store fronts on Queen Street in downtown NOTL, and their stop-gap access ramps.
Now, I ask you to take an impossibly big step out of your comfort zones, and imagine living life without being able to walk normally and navigate stairs. It’s impossible, but just try think about it.
Let’s narrow this imagination exercise down to the NEOB Lavender shop. They designed their store with sufficient floor space to accommodate shoppers in wheelchairs, or using canes, walkers or other mobility devices. At many other local shops, people with disabilities must wait outside, in all types of weather.
This rambling is not meant to be pedantic, and I simply hope we will be encouraged to open our eyes a bit wider, and imagine life without full mobility. As the song says, “Imagine.”
Going for a walk downtown, or to a concert or restaurant?. Are the washrooms, a.k.a. toilets, accessible? Are there stairs or other challenges?
Just think of the planning that folks with special needs must do, and join me in being shut out of many activities due to limited bladder capacity. Well, isn’t this just an off-the-wall Ross’s Rambling?
I will now attempt to localize and personalilze this story about the Man in Motion, Rick Hansen. How lucky was I to spend just over a week with him at the Honolulu Marathon in December 1986.
Due to fortuitous circumstances and our mutual friend, Canadian Wheelchair Marathon champion Mel Fitzgergerald from Newfoundland, Rick became part of our group. Great fun, and even way back then, Rick was a committed, driven person.
Wow, I am rambling out of control this week. I will finish up soon.
Later that year, the Man in Motion World Tour came through St. Catharines. A few running friends and I worked with his team to organize his Niagara Peninsula logistics. I clearly remember his 30-minute stop in front of city hall on Church Street and how he enthusiastically handled then-mayor Joe McCaffery. Then, wheeling along Glenridge Avenue and past my old high school, Sir Winston Churchill.
The excitement, Rick’s focus and friendliness and endurance. And the number of cheques (remember those things?) and the total amount of donations we counted up during our lunch stop at the Pen Centre.
The stop-gap ramps have made a difference here in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Please, dear readers, let us encourage our town, our very pretty corner of the world, to do more in the area of accessibility.
Just imagine.
