Wheelchairing around the world: 20th Anniversary of Man in Motion

May 22, 2007 is the 20th anniversary of the completion of Rick Hansen’s Man in Motion World Tour.

Not only did Rick Hansen go around the world, he went around the world in his wheelchair. It took him two years, two months, and two days, but Hansen traversed four continents, covering 40,072 kilometers (the circumference of the earth). Hansen and his team began in Cape Spear, Newfoundland and proceeded to return home to Vancouver- the long way. Thirty-four countries later, they had raised $26.1 million for spinal cord injury research and quality of life initiatives.

Paralyzed from the waist down after an automobile accident when he was 15, Hansen went on to win 19 international wheelchair marathons and compete in the 1984 Paralympics.

During his Man in Motion Tour, Hansen was robbed four times, had 126 flat tires, and received 200,007 letters. He wrote 2,172 postcards, spent his longest day wheeling (16 hours) on October 31, 1985, and was received to the largest crowd in Tianjin, China.

He is currently the President and CEO of the Rick Hansen Foundation, which has raised $178 million for spinal cord research to date.

Twenty years after Hansen’s journey, the internet provides a wealth of on-line resources for the disabled or special needs traveler. A variety of resources are listed at Makoa.org, including the Access-able Travel list of resources around the world.

Sites including Global Access News offer support and allow people to share their stories of traveling with a disability, including a couple’s drive from the Netherlands to West Africa, a trip to the Amazon, and experiences traveling with a respirator.