RICK HANSEN FOUNDATION
Rick Hansen Foundation Celebrates 2026 Difference Maker of the Year Award Recipients

The Rick Hansen Foundation is proud to announce six outstanding youth recipients of the 2026 Rick Hansen Foundation School Program (RHFSP) Difference Maker of the Year Awards. The announcement of this year's recipients coincides with National AccessAbility Week, a time to celebrate people with disabilities in Canada and raise awareness of the critical need for greater accessibility and inclusion in our communities and workplaces.

"As we celebrate National AccessAbility Week, we are honoured to see the incredible initiatives being championed by youth across Canada," said Laura McBride, Sr. Director Awareness at the Rick Hansen Foundation. "Since we began our School Program over 25 years ago, each year we are reminded why programs like this hold so much value as they bring real change directly to youth and their communities. This year's six recipients demonstrate what can be done when innovative solutions to improve inclusion and accessibility are embraced and prioritized."

The annual awards honour youth aged 5 to 18 who have significantly contributed to making their schools and communities more accessible and inclusive for people with disabilities. Selected from dozens of nominations, the six recipients are being celebrated for their inspirational work done to raise awareness around accessibility.

The 2026 Difference Makers serve as an inspiration to us all and include: the founder of an astronomy club now run through CNIB, the creator of a National Accessible Schools Initiative and Toolkit, the creators of a 3D printing company for custom adaptative equipment, designers of prototype glasses utilizing AI for individuals who are blind or have low vision, students who created a low sensory room at their school, and a champion of accessibility awareness for newcomers-to-Canada.

The 2026 RHFSP Difference Maker of the Year Award recipients include:

Gregory Perri (Toronto, ON)

Individual, Secondary School

Gregory created the CNIB's (Canadian National Institute for the Blind) very first Astronomy Club accessible for individuals who are blind or have low vision who were traditionally excluded from the natural phenomena central to the field of astronomy. Now in its second successful year, the project consists of monthly online astronomy sessions, each one hour long, delivered via Zoom to participants (age 14+) from across Canada. This inaugural club has already completed a full year of programming, establishing a proven model for accessible astronomy education that reaches blind and visually impaired individuals from coast to coast. Each session covers a major astronomy topic, ranging from the night sky and astronomical tools to the solar system, exoplanets, star birth and death, galaxies, black holes, dark matter, and the Big Bang, through multi-sensory exploration. Gregory's program features a portable 3D-printed Sky Map, designed and created by him with user feedback every step of the way. Using 3D printing software, he developed a tactile, portable star map that allows blind users to understand the constellations through touch.

Yasmin Atwal (Toronto, ON)

Individual, Secondary School

Yasmin implemented a youth-led accessibility initiative through the creation of a 66 page National School Disability Inclusion Toolkit, a practical resource designed to help schools build more barrier-free, inclusive, and equitable learning environments. This project was created to address a persistent and important issue: children and youth with disabilities continue to face barriers to full inclusion, accessibility, and participation in both school and community life. This toolkit supports schools in becoming more accessible, informed, inclusive, and equitable for all and reflects real-world needs, addressing not only physical barriers, but also social, educational, and attitudinal obstacles that affect inclusion. Developed as part of her National Accessible Schools Initiative, the toolkit provides clear, actionable strategies for educators, administrators, and students to improve accessibility and foster meaningful inclusion across school communities. The toolkit emphasizes implementation and sustainability, offering practical strategies that can be integrated into everyday school practice. It includes guidance on improving physical accessibility, building inclusive classrooms, increasing disability awareness, and encouraging student leadership.

Rayan Muhammed Parothodukayil (Windsor, NS)  

Individual, Elementary School

Rayan's early life was shaped by systemic exclusion. In his country of origin-despite claims of being disability-friendly-he was denied access to education, advanced grades without attending school, and witnessed the devastating consequences of stigma and lack of support. Even after immigration, children with disabilities-especially those with complex medical needs and newcomer families continue to face barriers in education, recreation, and community participation. The solution has been Rayan's lived experience shared openly and courageously. Since arriving in Nova Scotia as a permanent resident three years ago (with citizenship now in process), Rayan has become an active and visible participant in his school and community. Completing two years in an inclusive school marked a turning point in his life and demonstrated what genuine inclusion can achieve. Through everyday participation-attending school, joining recreational programs, engaging in community events-and through intentional advocacy with the support of organizations such as the Nova Scotia League for Equal Opportunities and Inclusion Nova Scotia, Rayan's journey has become a powerful tool for education, awareness, and change.

Build for Better (Burnaby, BC)

Group, Secondary School

Two students, Ella and Shelley, created the Printing Tomorrow's Accessibility Society which utilizes 3D printing technology to design and manufacture bespoke assistive devices. Traditional medical devices are often mass-produced with a "one-size-fits-all" approach that fails to account for the highly individual nature of physical disabilities, such as varying grip strengths or specific ranges of motion. Another barrier is the lack of affordable, personalized assistive technology for individuals living with disabilities. By utilizing 3D printing, their initiative solves these barriers by providing bespoke, low-cost, and aesthetically pleasing devices that are custom-tailored to the user's specific physical needs, effectively democratizing access to independence. Their primary activity involves collaborating directly with individuals with disabilities and healthcare professionals to identify specific physical barriers in their daily lives, such as difficulty gripping utensils, opening doors, or navigating digital interfaces. From there they use Computer-Aided Design (CAD) to create or modify 3D models tailored to the user's unique ergonomics. These designs are printed using durable filaments, producing highly functional tools at a fraction of the cost of traditional medical hardware. By operating as a registered non-profit, they ensure these devices are distributed to those in need, bridging the gap between high-cost specialized equipment and the immediate, personal requirements of the disability community.

Navig8 (Vancouver, BC)

Group, Secondary School

According to a study by The Lancet Global Health, over 2.2 billion people globally have some form of visual impairment, with 295 million suffering from moderate to severe visual impairment (MSVI). In Canada, approximately 1.2 million people face vision related barriers each day that limit their mobility and independence. In response to this, four friends created Navig8 which are prototypes of glasses for individuals that use AI and an image bank. Navig8 is a discreet navigation device in the form of everyday glasses to help people with visual impairments traverse urban environments safely through live haptic feedback. A camera on the frame of the glasses feeds live video footage to a processor built into the temple arm. This allows computer vision models to detect nearby hazards and estimate their relative direction and distance. Navig8 glasses function entirely offline, as the lightweight computer vision models run locally on the built-in processor. This ensures low latency, consistent performance in any environment regardless of low connectivity, and user privacy, as no data is being stored externally. To achieve a high level of accuracy and smooth performance, we custom-trained an object detection model on over 120,000 annotated images of urban environments, including pedestrians, poles, curbs, bikes, and vehicles from multiple datasets. If a hazard is detected, a gentle vibrational pattern is triggered using actuators in the temple arms. Navig8 glasses use simple and customizable vibrational patterns to convey direction and distance. The result is an intuitive, non-invasive feedback system that allows the user to pinpoint precisely where a hazard is.

Disability Justice Student Union (Surrey, BC)

Group, Secondary School

15 students from the Disability Justice Student Union at Matheson Secondary School created a low sensory room and improved accessibility with an accessibility library at their school. The low sensory room provides an opportunity for students to find an accessible space that uses technology and physical accessibility to allow all students to participate in school activities that would otherwise have been held in an inaccessible space. The team also sought to make the library more accessible through adding a variety of seating options for those with varying disabilities, and inclusion of visual aid technology to provide opportunity for participation. Students continue to collaborate with different student groups in the school and are focused on Disability Justice that truly supports full Disability rights.

Adds McBride, "Congratulations to all the Difference Makers who submitted nominations for their dedication to creating a world for everyone, everywhere. Together we can improve accessibility and disability inclusion across Canada for people of all ages and abilities and it's the next generation that is helping lead us there."

The RHF School Program is made possible thanks to the generous support of The Slaight Family Foundation, The Gordon and Ruth Gooder Charitable Foundation, Scotiabank, The Hearn Family Foundation, and BMO.

For more information on the RHFSP Difference Maker of the Year awards, and profiles of this year's recipients visit our website.