Rick Hansen Foundation

Who We Are

In 1985, Rick Hansen set out on the Man in Motion World Tour; a 26 month, 34 country, 40,000 km wheelchair marathon. The Tour raised $26 million and changed the way people with disabilities were perceived. The Rick Hansen Foundation (RHF), established in 1988, is part of its legacy. For over three decades, RHF has removed barriers, changed attitudes and funded spinal cord injury research and care.

Today, roughly one in four Canadians identify as having a disability, and that number is growing as our population ages. Globally, over 1.3 billion adults identify as having a disability.

We’re working on breaking down one of the most fundamental barriers that people with disabilities still face: physical barriers in the places where we live, work, learn and play.

Our accessibility programs help identify physical barriers in public places and spaces and improve accessibility in communities across Canada.

Our awareness programs and initiatives educate students and the general public about the importance of accessibility and the issues facing people with disabilities.

Why We Are Involved

An accessible and inclusive country for people of all abilities positively impacts every family, every workplace, every community and every Canadian. For over three decades, the Rick Hansen Foundation team has been raising awareness, changing attitudes, and breaking down barriers for people with disabilities with our programs and initiatives. With each of these programs and initiatives, we’re working to create an accessible and inclusive world where people with disabilities can live to their full potential.

Our mission is to inspire, create and deliver innovative solutions that accelerate a global movement to remove barriers to inclusion for people with disabilities. Our vision is to see people with disabilities thriving in an accessible, inclusive and healthy world.

Accessibility Initiatives

In order to promote a culture of inclusion, the Foundation regularly hosts internal learning sessions focusing on increasing accessibility in everything we do, such as how to create accessible emails and word documents. These sessions are recorded and provided during onboarding for new employees to review.

An online, self-paced Inclusion and Accessibility Training is required training for all employees.

We have an active IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility) committee dedicated to supporting employee education on topics such as Truth & Reconciliation, Gender Diversity, Race & Ethnicity and Disability & Accessibility.