Rick Hansen donates Man In Motion glove to Canadian Museum of History

Exactly 30 years after he completed his 26-month 40,000-kilometre journey across the globe to raise awareness and change public perceptions of people with disabilities, Canadian Paralympic athlete and disability advocate Rick Hansen is donating a memento of his Man In Motion World Tour to the Canadian History Hall.

Hansen is gifting one of his well-used gloves from the tour to the newly created exhibition alongside an image of his visit to the Great Wall of China, in April 1986.

The exhibition, covering about 4,000 square metres, is expected to open on July 1, as the country celebrates the 150th anniversary of Confederation. It is being touted as the largest and most comprehensive exhibition on Canadian history ever developed.

Mark O’Neill, president and CEO of the Canadian Museum of History, said the museum is grateful to Hansen for the donation.

“The glove, with its obvious signs of wear, tells the story of Mr. Hansen’s passion and determination to make our country — and the world — a more accessible and inclusive place for everyone,” O’Neil said. “More than that, it represents the admirable perseverance of so many individuals throughout Canadian history who have dedicated themselves to causes they care about.”

Hansen said he was “incredibly honoured” that his glove is being incorporated in the museum exhibition.

“For me, this glove represents the immense effort by many to achieve a seemingly impossible dream,” said Hansen, founder and CEO of the Rick Hansen Foundation. “The glove looks battered for a reason. It was part of a journey that took 15 million strokes of the wheel over the course of two years, two months, two days and countless hours of support from an amazing team.”

The glove symbolizes the continuing journey to find a cure for spinal cord injury and making the world more accessible and inclusive for people with disabilities, Hansen said.

Hansen was a promising young athlete when he lost the use of his legs in a car accident at the age of 15. However, hen never let his disability limit his dreams. Hansen became the first person with a physical disability to graduate with a degree in physical education from the University of British Columbia.

He represented Canada at several national and international completions and won multiple medals for wheelchair racing at the 1980 and 1984 Paralympic Games, the Pan American Games, and world championships. He was the first person to break the two-hour time in wheelchair marathons.

He began his Man In Motion World Tour on March 21, 1985, inspired by another iconic Canadian athlete, Terry Fox and his cross-country marathon. Hansen completed more than 80 kilometres – the equivalent of two marathons every wheeling day – travelling through 34 countries on four continents in his wheelchair, and arrived back in Vancouver on May 22, 1987.