Rick Hansen Foundation (RHF):
As we move towards SYNC25, we’re shining a light on members of our Valuable Directory – a global community of business-to-business disability inclusion experts and service providers helping our companies and partners to achieve their goals against our Synchronised Collective Actions.
In 1985, fresh from three track medal wins at the 1984 Paralympics, Rick Hansen set out on the Man in Motion World Tour. The Tour was a 26-month, 34 country, 40,000 km wheelchair marathon. It raised $26 million and forever changed the way people with disabilities are perceived. Off the back of the World Tour, Rick founded The Rick Hansen Foundation (RHF) in 1988. For over thirty years, RHF has raised awareness, changed attitudes and funded spinal cord injury research and care.
Today, roughly one in five Canadians identify as disabled, and that number is growing as the population ages. One of the most fundamental barriers that people with disabilities still face are the physical barriers in the places we live, work, learn and play. RHF are working to dismantle these barriers by creating and delivering innovative solutions, with the aim to lead to a global movement to liberate the potential of people with disabilities.
Accessibility Programmes:
RHF offer three broad services under the banner of Accessibility Programmes.
Rating and Certification:
The Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility CertificationTM (RHFAC) is a Canadian national (and now international) rating system that measures and certifies the level of meaningful access of buildings and sites. The RHFAC rating helps businesses and public bodies better understand their physical accessibility, how they can improve, and identify barriers for their community, customers, and employees.
Accessibility Training and Education:
The Rick Hansen Foundation has collaborated with people with physical disabilities, experts in the built environment, legislation, accessibility, and education to create training courses and resources on accessibility and disability awareness. The courses are designed for professionals across all industries, from architects and building owners to therapists and DEI teams. Understanding meaningful physical accessibility is crucial for everyone, as it empowers people to create and advocate for inclusive spaces, regardless of their role or industry.
Accessibility Advisory Services:
RHF offers a range of accessibility advisory services designed to support organisations on their journey towards increased accessibility and inclusion. These services include everything from reviews of architectural drawings and built environment audits, all the way to project management of organisation wide accessibility improvement programmes.
RHF at LaGuardia:
RHF goes international for landmark project in NYC.
LaGuardia Airport, one of New York City’s three main airports, had been maligned for decades as the absolute worst of the bunch. It had a seriously poor reputation for inaccessibility, overcrowded departure halls and security lines, and a leaky roof requiring passengers to navigate through a sea of buckets on the floor.
In 2015, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced a comprehensive plan to construct a new LaGuardia Airport. The goal was to create a state-of-the-art passenger experience with a big focus on accessibility for all.
LaGuardia Gateway Partners (LGP) engaged the Rick Hansen Foundation for their input on building a world class accessible terminal. RHF made recommendations that LGP incorporated into the design and construction of the new terminal. Some of the specific features recommended by RHF were:
- Hearing loops at all guest experience desks.
- Intuitive departure board displays in two different formats and colour coding to assist with intuitive navigation. Distance to gates is also displayed.
- Accessible assistance, call buttons, and curb side drop-off and check-in.
- Intuitive and consistent colour-coded wayfinding throughout the terminal, including the use of landmarks for intuitive navigation.
- A calming NYC-style park seating area that is noticeably different from the rest of the Terminal’s spaces thanks to sensory stimulation provided through plants and foliage.
- Inclusion of the Sunflower lanyard programme, allowing people with invisible disabilities to signal that they may need assistance or other accommodations.
As a result of the commitment of the designers to accessibility, and the implementation for their recommendations, the new terminal was awarded an RHFAC Gold certification, putting it among the cream of the crop of accessible public buildings, and a US first for RHF.
The goal of the RHFAC is to mark meaningful accessibility. That is, features and design elements that genuinely improve the experience of disabled people in a space. The result of LaGuardia’s Gold certification is twofold. Firstly, it gives disabled people confidence and assurance that when they travel, they will be able to have their accessibility needs met at LaGuardia, and know that every effort has been made to make the travel experience as frictionless as possible for disabled people. Secondly, it signals to the aviation and tourism industry that accessibility matters, and that designing buildings and experiences to be accessible to all is now a top priority.
In the words of Rick himself:
Accessible travel is a critical part of creating a world where we can all participate. Thank you [LaGuardia] for your commitment to helping to create a world where everyone can go everywhere.
Read more about RHF’s work with LaGuardia.
