Hiten Patel Andalusia Star News
And it’s not just because he just spent two weeks biking 865 miles through Florida, but because of the people he met along the way.
“One thing I learned from this trip and something I will never forget is that the only disability in the world a person can have is a bad attitude, because without one, anyone is capable of doing anything they set their mind to,” he said Tuesday.
The trip was a fundraiser for The Ability Experience, the official philanthropy of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, Patel’s social fraternity. Patel is a brother of the Omicron (Alabama) Chapter.
Each day, participants biked 50 to 100 miles, but they also stopped for “friendship visits” at centers for persons with disabilities. Some were centers for children, others for adults. At some centers, the cyclists played sports with the residents, at others, they had dance parties.
“As a society, we see people as unable to do things,” he said. “People are able to do anything want to do.”