Untitled - ChinaSCINet

Difference
Makers
Rick Hansen
Canadian born Rick Hansen is best known for completing an epic
journey called the Man In Motion World Tour in 1987. But Rick
wasn’t always the “Man in Motion,” and the Tour wasn’t his first
difficult journey.
Rick grew up in Northern British Columbia, living an active childhood – fishing, camping and playing ball. His first “big dream” was
to represent Canada at the Olympics. But at age 15, hitchhiking
home after a weeklong fishing trip, Rick accepted a ride in the bed
of a pickup truck. Some time later, the truck skidded off a winding
road and he was thrown from the vehicle...Rick would never walk
again.
But a shattered spine is not a shattered spirit, and for Rick
Hansen, it was the beginning of an inspiring story. After seven
months in recovery and rehab, and with the support of family,
friends, and mentors who inspired him, Rick returned home determined to make his life matter. What he
didn’t know then was that he was embarking on a life-long inspirational journey that would spark a sea
of change in public attitudes around the world toward people with disabilities, and make a difference in
the lives of others.
Rick became a world class athlete winning nineteen international
wheelchair marathons, nine gold medals at the 1982 Pan American Wheelchair Games, and six Paralympics medals between
1980 and 1984. In 1985, inspired by the belief that “anything is
possible,” Rick set out to change the world by wheeling around
the globe to raise awareness of the potential of people with
disabilities. The man In Motion World tour travelled over 40,000
km’s through 34 countries, over the course two years, two
months and two days. Since then, Rick has received the Companion Order of Canada, the Order of British Columbia, and was
inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, all while leading the
Foundation that bears his name, raising over $250M in pursuit of
finding a cure for spinal cord injury, and reducing barriers to
improve the lives of those suffering from SCI. He has become a
shining model of an exemplary citizen creating the Rick Hansen
Institute and opening the Blusson Spinal Cord Center, establishing a world-class SCI registry connecting researchers, clinicians
and people with SCI while funding over 1000 ‘quality of life’
projects across Canada.
These accomplishments are remarkable, but they could never have been achieved if Rick didn’t have
the people around him that believed in his potential to change lives and make a difference. Every day,
we come across people with a vision to make a difference in their schools, their communities, their
countries and the world. Champions that have overcome barriers, inspired others or have become
advocates for a cause deserve to be recognized, celebrated and supported in their journey. We want to
turn the attention of our communities to these young leaders, to hear their stories, to give them support,
and help them achieve their goals.
In hosting youth forums and symbolic relays, our goal is to create an opportunity for participation and
dialogue among youth. Our activities will showcase champions and remind young people around the
world that everyday leaders are living among us. Understanding and sharing in their vision will result in a
prosperous and inclusive world where barriers are removed and the leaders of today and tomorrow truly
believe that it is inside all of us to make a difference.Celebrating and inspiring these youth may very well
result in finding the next Rick Hansen.
“Together, we can make this moment the beginning of the greatest movement
for positive change in our history. If enough of us chose to change one small
thing...together, we have the power to change anything.” - Rick Hansen
So Wa Wai
So Wa Wai (born October 6, 1981) is an athlete from Hong
Kong who has competed in the Paralympics Games on four
occasions, winning 11 medals.
So was born with jaundice which affected both his hearing
and the balance of his limbs, and hence competes in the T36
classification for athletes with cerebral palsy. At the age of 10,
his enthusiasm in running was noticed by athletics coach
Poon Kin-lui, who then began to formally train So.
His first Paralympics appearance came at the 1996 games in
Atlanta, where he won a gold medal as part of the men's
4×100 m relay team in the T34-37 classification. Over the
course of the next two summer Paralympics Games, 2000 in
Sydney and 2004 in Athens, So won four gold and two silver
medals in a range of individual events, up to a distance of 400 m, as well as two bronze medals in relay events.
In 2008, So was chosen to be part of the torch relay as the Olympic
flame passed through Hong Kong on its way to Beijing. However, his
participation in the games themselves was put into doubt when an
injury to his father rendered him unable to work. So was forced to give
up his training and take up a full time job to support his family. Help
with his situation came from Andy Lau, a Hong Kong entertainer and
the singer of the Beijing Paralympics Games official theme song
"Flying with the Dream”, who gave him a full-time job with the flexibility
to allow him to train for the Games.
At the 2008 Summer Paralympics games, So led the Hong Kong
team into the Bird's Nest Stadium during the opening ceremony as the
flag bearer. During competition, he first won a bronze medal in the 100 m, a performance which he was disappointed, and followed this with
a sixth place in the 400 m. In the 200 m T36 final, he broke his own
world record with a time of 24.64 seconds on the way to win the gold
medal making him the Paralympics champion in that event for the third
successive occasion. After the race he said he had been ill before the
competition and said that "During the first part of today's competition,
I did not run at my normal speed", he attributed his win to both "good
luck" and "practice".
So is the current world record holder in both the 100 and 200 m
men's T36 classification.
Christine Leung
A car accident in 1989 left Ms Christine Leung paralyzed from the
neck down ever since. Yet, her courage and determination enabled
her to move on, and she has lived her life to the fullest ever since. In
1994, she founded the Birmingham Chinese Women's Association in
the UK, and acquired a Law degree five years later. She then pursued
her studies in Hong Kong and graduated with distinction with a
Master of Arts in Communications in 2002. She is currently completing her PhD at the Hong Kong Baptist University.
Throughout these years, Ms Leung has been active in social services.
She is now a Consultant of the Direction Association for the Handicapped, and a member of the Public Affairs Forum, advising government on welfare issues for persons with disabilities. She pays
frequent visits to schools to share her experiences with young people. Last year, she travelled to mainland China to visit children living in the remote mountainous regions. Ms Leung's personal story has
been an inspiration to many.
Sang Lan
Sang Lan (born June 11, 1981, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China) is a
former Chinese Gymnast, Television celebity and Student.
Sang achieved excellence in gymnastics at a young age,
winning the all-around and every single event final at the 1991
Zhejiang Province Championships. By 1995 she was
competing nationally. Sang
was one of the China's
strongest vaulters, placing
second on the event at the
1995 Chinese Nationals and
gaining championship in
1997. While she never
represented China at the Olympics or World Gymnastics Championships, she did compete at the 1996 and 1997 American Cup and
was selected for the 1998 Goodwill Games team.
In New York at the Goodwill Games, during warm-ups for the vault event
final, Sang fell while she was performing a timer (a simple vault, used by
the athlete to familiarize herself with the apparatus and warm up). She
could not raise herself from the mat and was taken to the hospital.
Tests indicated that she had fractured and dislocated her C6 and C7
vertebrae and injured her spinal cord. The result of the injury was paralysis
from the mid-chest down. Sang remained in New York City for almost a
year, receiving rehabilitation at Mount Sinai Hospital. Many celebrities,
including Leonardo DiCaprio, Celine Dion and Christopher Reeve visited
and offered their support; she was also invited to participate in the New
Year's Eve festivities in Times Square as an honoured guest.
12 years after her fall, however, Sang revealed that her
fall was not just an unfortunate accident, but due to
disturbance from a coach of another team, who walked
into the vault area to remove a mattress after her pushoff. Sang said she mentioned it when she was sent to
hospital, but Chinese officials apparently dismissed her
accusation, saying she had brain damage. Sang has
said that she is preparing to sue the organisers of the
event, and now that she is "old enough to stand up for
herself." She also accused the Chinese National Gymnastics team for cruelly abandoning her after she was
paralysed.
Since returning to China, Sang has become a celebrity and an
advocate for the disabled. A television miniseries about her life
was produced in the late 1990s; she was portrayed by her
former gymnastics teammate Mo Huilan. Sang also hosts her
own show, Sang Lan Olympics 2008 on STAR TV, a
Mandarin-language television channel. She was an ambassador for Beijing's successful 2008 Olympics bid and was
selected as an Olympic relay torchbearer.
Sang is currently a student at Peking University. She has
continued a rigorous physical therapy regimen and has
regained some uses of her arms and hands. She has also
expressed an interest in returning to sports and wishes to
represent China as a table tennis player at the 2008 Summer
Paralympics.