RIYADH: Handcyclist Matteo Parsani has reached Riyadh, his first stop on a 30-day, 3,000-km trip across the Kingdom to create awareness of the challenges faced by people with disabilities.
Parsani, an associate professor of applied mathematics and computational science at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology — who lost the use of his legs six years ago after a road accident — began his journey “Athar — East to West” on Dec. 17.
The academic, who covers about 150 km a day, will now cycle to Qassim, Hail, AlUla, Red Sea Global, Madinah, Makkah and Jeddah, and finish at KAUST on Jan. 17.
Arab News spoke with Parsani at the offices of the Authority for People with Disabilities, a government agency tasked with empowerment and capacity building.
“The difficulties began the night before the trip started, when I had trouble falling asleep. I thought I was taking a test. I woke up in the morning with a stomachache and a ton of ideas running through my head, so I decided not to do it. I’ll put it off for one day. I warmed up after that and managed to complete a few kilometers,” Parsani said.
He added: “That morning was chilly. The first day went smoothly, and the second day got off to a great start until a huge traffic accident forced us to pull over for three to four hours. And so, on the evening of the second day, I cycled, and as you can imagine, the traffic was absolutely insane, with a number of trucks beginning to move. It was scary in a way that the dark carried trucks that were passing by close to you.”
On his third day before reaching Riyadh, Parsani came across another car accident, that occurred five meters in front of them.
Parsani said the APD, which has backed him from the beginning, held a welcome event for people with disabilities at the agency. Those in attendance had a great time trying out Parsani’s handcycle.
“The APD was the first government agency I contacted to inquire about their interest in helping me with my journey. They have been supportive from the beginning, and today they had this lovely occasion. It’s the end of that portion of the journey, in my opinion, but this is just the start of something much, much, much bigger.”
One of the attendees at the event, Nouf Al-Jalal, who is a consultant on accessibility for individuals with disabilities, said the community appreciates Parsani’s efforts.
“I had the chance to try the handcycle for the first time, and it was such a lovely experience. This is such an amazing event.”
The APD will distribute 50 handcycles to various groups in the cities Parsani will pass through so that locals can join in the fun.
Parsani has three cameras that are livestreaming his trip via YouTube.